


A friend for life

by EggArts



Category: Merlin - Fandom
Genre: #screwyouUther, Accidental Cat Acquisition, Long suffering Leon, M/M, Magic Revealed, Merlin and Arthur grow up together, Merlin is a Little Shit, Probably merthur at some point because I can’t not ship it, Reading, because Merlin is a huge nerd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27644276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EggArts/pseuds/EggArts
Summary: Hunith sends Merlin to Camelot when he is very young to protect him from an invasion what she does not expect is for him to stay and grow up as an unofficial friend of the prince
Relationships: Isolde/Tristan (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 163





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic and first time writing from a child’s POV I hope you enjoy because I have NO idea where this is going to go XD

A little boy with messy black hair walked up the long dusty road all by himself. Merlin knew why he’d had to leave Ealdor with only the clothes he was wearing and some hastily assembled rations, but what the tiny sorcerer didn’t understand why he had to leave his mummy behind without even a proper kiss goodbye.

For the first day he’d run and only stopped when his legs had outright collapsed from under him, luckily he’d got far away from his home by night time. He’d hidden himself in the woods that bordered the road but not enough to get lost. He’d eaten some bread while drawing the protective runes that his mummy had taught him into the ground with a stick where he was going to sleep. When he finished the last rune the symbols and his eyes glowed gold. His magic tingled, it didn’t hurt but felt uncomfortable this was a big spell for such a young warlock no matter how powerful he was destined to become. Merlin wouldn’t know about his destiny for many years, all he knew now as he curled in the fetal position in the centre of his protective bubble, letting his magic cover him like a warm blanket was that he missed his mum.

In the morning Merlin kicked dirt into the grooves that he’d made last night. At seven years old he already knew that magic was not well liked, even in kingdoms where it was legal magic was feared. Merlin didn’t understand _why_ it was feared he just knew that all of the other children panicked when he’d shown them his powers.

O=|======>

Behind the young sorcerer a black horse drawn carriage trotted up the road, two people sat at the front guiding the horses. The woman tapped the man on the arm with the back of her hand and pointed out Merlin. The man looked concerned. He nudged the horses to trot next to the child.

“Hello?” Said the woman to Merlin

“Hi!” Merlin waved

“What are you doing here all on your own, little man?”She asked. Merlin looked at the pair, they both looked intimidating in their leathers but had kind smiles or at least the woman did her partner seemed irritated and like he wanted to move on. Merlin wrinkled his nose should he tell them or not.

“I’m going to Camelot, do you know if I’m going the right way?”

“Yes but it’s a three day journey on horseback,” she turned to her partner “he will not last long enough whether it be by bandits or exposure” she hissed in a hushed voice

“We cannot afford to go so far out of our way, Isolde” the man growled

“And you could let a child die?” She challenged “would you like us to take you, we cannot take you all the way but we can leave you half a days journey away?” She asked Merlin

“What will you want in return?” He asked with a scowl, he knew better than to accept help from a stranger without knowing the price. The two adults talked and argued in whispers before the man spoke up

“You will owe us a favour, when we decide we need you. You will drop everything to come to us and you will **not** tell anyone about us.” He said sternly “In return we will take you to half a day away from Camelot. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Said Merlin because what other choice did he have? The nights were freezing even with his cloak, he didn’t know how to make a fire without magic and his food wouldn’t last for however long the trip would take on foot. The couple pulled him onto the seat in between them so he wouldn’t fall off. The man clicked at the horses and the cart started moving again

“What’s you’re name little man?” He asked

“Merlin, like the bird” he replied “what are your names?” He ventured cautiously these didn’t seem like the type of people who like to answer personal questions

“Tristan” he growled “and my wife Isolde” Isolde smiled at Merlin before turning back to glare at the road looking out for trouble.

They rode in silence until the sun started to set, through the trees Merlin could just see it starting to pass the horizon. As the couple started to unload their camp Merlin’s stomach started to grumble, apart from a bit of bread that morning he hadn’t eaten all day, he wondered if his (friends? Companions? Acquaintances? Captors? He wasn’t quite sure yet) would let him have some of their food or he would have to find some for himself. When he asked they told him that in return he’d have to help around camp to which he happily agreed. After he’d collect the firewood from the back of the carriage Isolde taught him how to light a fire while Tristan had taken the crossbow to go hunting, he came back with two rabbits.

“So why are you going to Camelot anyway little man?” Asked Tristan as they ate

“My village got invaded so I’m going to my Uncle Gaius”

“Sorry to here that kid” he said but didn’t sound overly sympathetic

“Where are you two going?”

“Like we’re going to tell you little man” Merlin pouted how come they didn’t have to answer his questions

“Why not?” Isolde laughed at that

“Because we’ve only known you for a few hours little man and we don’t trust that easily and neither should you.” She scoffed gesturing at the little boy with her leg of rabbit. Merlin frowned now

“Why?”

“Because you never know what they’re thinking”

“Or where their loyalties lay” interjected Tristan.

When Merlin woke up it was still dark, the fire was long gone and the only light was from the moon and stars. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he saw two figures asleep on either side of the campfire holding swords ready to fight at a moment’s notice. Merlin didn’t try to go back to sleep, his magic was tingling. Even before he knew he had magic he used to get funny feelings when something was about to happen, not that it’d helped him and Will get out of trouble for their antics but he’d always known when something was off. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and quietly pulled on his boots looking around at where the path turned to forest, a gust of wind blew through the camp. Despite the cold he packed his cloak that he’d been using for a blanket into his bag, the cloak was slightly too long and he didn’t want to trip over it if he had to run again. Merlin crawled over to the burnt out logs of the fire and put his hand on them his eyes glowed as he re-lit the fire. He scrunched up as close to it as he could get, warming his numb hands. A rustle of leaves from the opposite side of the road made the young warlock’s head snap to look over his shoulder, he didn’t see the bandit creeping up to him from the other side but he knew he was there. The little boy span around and shouted out as he came face to face with the bandits’ sword this in turn woke up Isolde and Tristan who were already on their feet brandishing their weapons at two of the other bandits, they could hear more breaking into the supplies. 

“What do you want?” Spat Isolde at the leader who was now circling the three of them

“We were just going to take your cargo but seems like we have three additional sources of profit. When we saw the carriage we assumed nobles who are good for materials but people notice if they go missin’ but scum like you, no one’ll give two shits” he sneered gesturing with his knife “GRAB ‘EM” he barked.

Merlin’s magic had been freaking out since he heard the noise coming from the bushes but he’d managed to keep it under control but as the bandit’s huge hands grabbed his arms he let it explode and the man flew back. It wasn’t very far but this was the first time he’d had to use magic in self defence and he’d only used it to push someone away when he’d been playing with Will. Merlin span around with wide golden eyes arms raised. He pushed the bandits advancing on Isolde and then Tristan away giving them time to attack. Merlin pushed away another attacker that was running at him from behind; he wished that he knew more spells.

“Get the kid, he’ll be worth a fortune!” Ordered the leader before falling over dead. Tristan and Isolde charged for the others that were still attacking their loot. Merlin ran into the woods jumping over roots and stumbling over rocks he didn’t dare look back at the people or pack he’d left and for the second time in as many days all he could think was run.

O=|======>

Isolde found the little boy curled up in a gap under a tree hidden in the roots she couldn’t tell if he was asleep or awake but at least he was still alive, shivering from cold, fear or both she couldn’t tell but still alive. She lay on her stomach to get a better look under the tree

“Merlin,” she said quietly she heard a sniffle “come on get up little man” she tried not to sound threatening.

Merlin crept out of his hiding spot, he felt drained especially from his compression of his magic when it really wanted to be free. Isolde sat against one of the tree roots her legs crossed, she pated her lap inviting him to sit, he curled up in it and she wrapped her arms around him and stroked his hair like his mummy does - did.

“So you have magic little man?” She said after a while “It was very impressive how you pushed those bad men away from us, we both thank you, you saved our lives.” She said soothingly when she felt his tiny muscles tense, in this way she was not like his mummy she was so scared that people would find out about his gift that when she found out that Will knew she’d gone pale and had had to sit down. “Magic isn’t allowed in Camelot, the king’ll put you in prison for the rest of your life if he thinks you use it. Are you sure you still want to go there?” Merlin thought for a minute before nodding into her shoulders tears rolling down his face

“I need to find my uncle” he almost whispered “will you hand me over to the king?” He said if possibly quieter

“No little man we don’t particularly like his royal highness” she sighed heavily and pushed him back to wipe his tears “whether you were born with magic or learned to use it, it doesn’t make you evil no matter what that horrible excuse for a man says”

“How do you know it won’t make me bad like mr Simmons says?”

“Because our daughter didn’t have an evil bone in her body, and neither do you. You trust easily and protect even easier. Hell even Tristan is fond of you that doesn’t happen over a few hours, you radiate friendship Merlin so much so that even those without magic can feel it, never let anyone abuse that and you can never turn hateful.” Merlin nodded at her words and smiled sadly “let’s get you back to camp little man” she says lifting him off her lap.

O=|======>

The rest of the trip passed without incident. In the evenings Merlin would help set up camp, one night Tristan had taken him hunting and showed him how to use a crossbow “you’ll have to learn to fend for yourself without magic if you’re going to live in the city” he’d said. On the last night he’d managed to start a fire by himself. One of the adults stayed on watch at nights now.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Tristan asked as Merlin got off the carriage for the last time.

“Yes I’m sure my mum’ll be worried if she doesn’t hear from Uncle Gaius that I’ve arrived, but thank you soooo much” he grinned

“I’m just saying kid, you could make a great freelance trader. And don’t forget our deal, our favour is all the more valuable now we know what you can do”

“I won’t forget” promised the little warlock

“Good luck little man.” He said before riding off Merlin waved at the back of the cart until his hand felt like it was about to drop off before turning to face the main path again and starting to jog along it.

Merlin panted as he climbed up the steep hill. Once he reached the top he stared in awe. The castle on the next (thankfully less steep) slope was humongous it’s pale yellow stones looked almost white in the blinding afternoon sun it’s turrets and towers seemed to stretch on into the clouds. The wall that surrounded the town looked thicker than his home in Ealdor. He took a deep breath, hitched up his pack and practically slid down the hill. He smiled at the guards that stood on either side of the huge archway as he went under it he looked at the bustling town, all of the houses looked huge even compared to the old man Simmons’ house. The town was **so loud** everyone in Camelot seemed to be talking at the same time. Through the din he could hear the familiar sound of a blacksmith that seemed like as good a place as any to start his search. He snuck through the crowd and made his way up to where the blacksmith was working

“Excuse me” the man looked up from his work at the little boy “do you know where I can find Gaius? My mum says he’s a physician here”

“Yep he lives in the castle, my daughter Gwen can show you if you like” Merlin nodded “Gwen” the man called into the house. A little girl about the same age as Merlin ran out her curls bouncing “take-” he looked at Merlin

“Merlin”

“-Merlin here to Gaius please and while you’re at it” he said picking up a leather satchel and handed it to Gwen “take this up to lord Young’s house and say hello to your mother”

“Ok” she said hauling the bag onto her shoulder “come on Merlin” she held out her hand Merlin went to shake it but to his surprise she dragged him up the street he stumbled behind her.

They ran through the lower town, the houses gradually became posher, the shops sold more expensive goods like fine fabrics and fresh cakes. Gwen stopped in front of stone two story house so suddenly that Merlin nearly crashed into her, she knocked on the door and stepped back bouncing on the balls of her feet. A few minutes later a woman with the same brown skin and kind eyes opened the door

“Hello Gwen dear, who’s your friend, thank you” she said taking the bag from her daughter

“This is Merlin, I’m taking him to find Gaius” she said grabbing his hand again and charging off again they ran across the courtyard of the castle and through the huge wooden doors.

It took Merlin’s eyes a second to adjust to the suddenly dim lights produced by the torches on the walls. Gwen and Merlin talked as she expertly lead him through the maze of corridors and secret passages as if she navigated them every day which Merlin learned that she did, Gwen delivered messages from people all over the citadel as well as delivering things that her farther made or mended to theirs rightful owners but when she was old enough she was going to train as a servant like her mummy for one of the nobles who lived in the city. Merlin liked Gwen she was very kind and cheerful, she could make you happy just by being near you and her smile was as bright as the sun. The two children raced each other up the spiral stairs marked ‘physician’

“I win!” Exclaimed Gwen as she landed on the top step

“Only because you do this _every day_ , I don’t think I’ve walked this far in my LIFE” grinned Merlin as Gwen knocked the door to the physicians quarters a sunshine smile on her face from ear to ear

“Yes?” Came a muffed voice from behind the door and she opened the door

“Hello Gaius, this is Merlin, he’s been looking for you” she turned to Merlin “I’ve got to go now but now you know where I live you can come and visit me!” She pulled him into a big squishy hug “BYE!” She shouted back as she ran back down the stairs so fast that if it was Merlin he definitely would have tripped.

“Why do you need me my boy?” Asked the old man

“My village got attacked and my mum sent me to you, she said that you would look after me” he said starting to feel sad again

“Where is your mum?”

“Ealdor”

“But that’s in king Cenred’s kingdom, why would she send you so far to Camelot?”

“She said you know her, her name’s Hunith, she wrote you this letter” Merlin explained and went to pull the letter out of his boot only to find that it had disappeared.

O=|======>

Hidden in the twisted roots of a tree two days away from Camelot was a crumpled, sodden letter covered in mud and dirt.

O=|======>

Dear Gaius,

If you are reading this it means that Merlin is safe with you, I wish that I was there with him but if I am not it means that someone has come to take him away and the thought of what would happen to him if that was to happen is more horrible and painful than me not being able to be with him. He will be terrified and very upset now but if I know one thing about that boy is that he will probably be doing his best to hide it for everyone else’s sake. Sometimes I fear that he is too kind hearted and then I remember that that is his biggest strength. Please if you can take him to the Druids, even though I trust you to keep him safe I fear what could happen to him in Camelot if his secret was to be discovered. I know that you are still close to Uther but I also remember how highly Balinor spoke of you and your resistance to the situation. What a small world that we find ourselves in. I have seen the world he and the young Pendragon will create but that cannot happen if he is caught. I have taught him a few basic protective runes, but he seems to use his gift on instinct without being taught even when he was a baby. He knows nothing of his destiny as I do not know all of the details and don’t want him to carry this weight with him, he is still so young and the world has already been so hard for him I want him to be able to remember a happy childhood. Please make sure he knows that I love him more than anything else.

Your beloved sister, Hunith

O=|======>

“It’s gone.” He said hollowly

“It’s alright” said the old man as he scooped the wiry seven year old up and sat him on an ancient wooden table full of beakers and old tomes “Hunith is my little sister, you must be Merlin then, I’ve heard a lot about you” he said walking over to the door and shutting it

“Really?”

“Yes, Hunith says that you’ve got some very special talents, is that right?” Merlin nodded he was very proud of his magic even though he knew others didn’t like it he also knew he couldn’t not be magic “can you show me?” He asked Merlin nodded again thinking of what he could do, Gaius bolted the door closed. From his position on the table he could see a granite pestle and mortar he concentrated on it blocking out everything surrounding them picturing the pestle crushing the herbs he tried to think of the sound and how it would smell, he found his magic and used it as if it was the hand at the end of his arm. His eyes glowed gold and the pestle started to grind the herbs on its own. Merlin beamed he loved practising his magic, he loved using it and felt like nothing could go wrong. He broke his concentration to look at Gaius’ reaction and the pestle dropped back into the bowl as if it had never moved.

“That was very impressive Merlin, how did you do it without an incantation?” Merlin shrugged

“I just pictured what I wanted it to do and then asked my magic to do it” Gaius raised an eyebrow “why?”

“Most people with magic would have to say a spell to make something move like that” he explained calmly. The sun was setting over the city “you can sleep in my bedroom for tonight but tomorrow we’ll have to find you a more appropriate place to stay” he said walking over to a pot and started making soup for the two of them.

Merlin had never slept in a bed before, in Ealdor he’d slept on the floor because they only had room for (and could afford) one bed. He tossed and turned in Gaius’ narrow bed, he’d offered to stay in the main room but Gaius didn’t want him to wake up if a patient came in. Merlin stared at the cracks on the ceiling following them and tried to find shapes in them he made up stories in his head about how they’d gotten there, they usually involved magical creatures. Eventually he fell into dreams of a dragon who lived under the castle.

The next morning Gaius dished him out a bowl of porridge and sat opposite him at the old dining table his long fingers interlaced. He watched Merlin with a raised eyebrow.

“I will have to have a talk with my friend” he said eventually “but I may have thought of a good place to live.” The old man looked over at the door to make sure it was locked before hunching over and said in a low, conspiratorial voice “Before magic was made illegal in Camelot he and his wife used to house magic users in their spare rooms and I know for a while afterwards they used to help refugees escape the city. If I can persuade them would you like to live there?”

“Can I still come and visit you?”

“Yes of course you can Merlin, you’ll be welcome back anytime, and if you like when you’re older you could come and be my apprentice.”

“What’s an apprentice?” Merlin asked with wide exited eyes it sounded very important

“It means I will teach you how to heal people”

“Yes please!” He almost squeaked.

O=|======>

Merlin had been living with lord Young and his family for a few days now and was staring to get used to his tiny bedroom. The room was about the same size as the one his mummy slept in all the way back in Ealdor, it only contained a narrow bed much the same quality as Gaius’ and a small set of drawers which was more than enough to keep his new set of clothes in.

The family were very nice, lord and lady Young had made sure to assure him that they didn’t hate magic even though he wouldn’t be allowed to use it if he could help it. They had a son called Leon who slept in the room next to Merlin, he was training to be a knight and he already felt like a big brother. The Young’s weren’t very important nobles but they could still afford to hire a servant who Merlin was overjoyed to find out was Gwen’s mum she would say hello to him in the mornings and made sure to pack him lunch before he bolted off to find Gwen. On the first afternoon that he moved in lady Young had taken him shopping as he’d only had one set of clothes when he’d left Ealdor and now they were covered in mud and dust and were starting to smell.

Merlin was starting to get bored. Itwas a lovely sunny day but he was stuck inside because Gwen was busy and he got lost quickly without her as they’d found out when he’d tried to help Gaius by making his delivery run for him, that plus the fact that he couldn’t remember who he was supposed to be giving which medication to and couldn’t write it down yet was why he wasn’t doing that job anymore. Gaius was teaching him to read and write in the afternoons as it was an important skill for a future physician, his mum had started to teach him but it was slow going especially in harvest season as she was so busy working in the fields. Merlin decided that he would go and find somewhere to practice his spelling before his lesson with Gaius later. He waves goodbye to Gwen’s mum as he left and smiled a big goofy grin as he shut the door behind him. Despite the autumn creeping in it was a warm-ish day and he didn’t think he’d need the cloak that he’d bought with him, he picked a random direction and walked holding his book of words tight so he wouldn’t loose it. Merlin ended up at a stretch of grass with a humongous tree in one corner, it’s leaves were starting to turn orange and yellow but hadn’t started to fall off yet. Merlin settled down at its roots and started to practice his words like Gaius had shown him.

After a while a group of men started to head towards a big rectangle of grass that was much more maintained than where Merlin was sitting. His head was starting to ache from concentrating so he decided to watch them for a bit. They started by stretching and then jogging laps around their bit of grass. If the armour wasn’t enough of a hint then noticing Leon in the crowd when they lined up was enough to confirm that these were the Knights of Camelot. Merlin watched them stand in rows facing the trainer and Merlin guessed the head knight and started to practice fighting moves with their swords, Merlin thought they looked a bit silly, like they were trying to fight the air. They looked less silly when they started to fight each other; first everyone fought their partners at the same time and then after a break they started to fight each other one at a time with the others cheering them on. Although he didn’t know anything about fighting he thought Leon did very well, he was one of the later challengers and managed to win the fights for a couple of rounds before an older man took him down.

After they’d finished fighting most of the knights left, laughing and joking as they went back to the castle Leon however stayed on the field but shed his heavy armour down to his chain mail. He sat on one of the benches looking bored, Merlin decided to go and talk to him.

“Hello Leon” he waved with a big smile

“Hello Merlin, and what are you up to?”

“I was practicing my letters,” he explained holding up his books

“Do you have a lesson today?”

“Yes, Gwen is going to come and find me when it’s time, she wants to learn too and Gauis said he’d teach her as well” Leon nodded “why are you still out here? All of the other knights have gone in” just as he was about to answer a blond boy strutted towards them holding a sword, he wasn’t much taller than Merlin but he looked like he thought he was as tall as Leon. He wore light chain mail with a tabard with a gold dragon emblazoned on it

“Sire you’re scheduled to practice with a crossbow today”

“Well I want to use a sword today” he said indignantly he scowled at Merlin “who are you?” He demanded

“Merlin” he said slightly taken aback by the boy’s tone “and you _are_?” He asks raising his eyebrows Merlin has a pretty good idea of who this kid could be. 1) he came from the castle 2) he thinks he’s better than anyone else 3) he’s being trained to fight despite not being much older than Merlin 4) he’s bossing around a knight of Camelot in training. Merlin has a very good idea that this is the prince as people were only allowed to start knights training when they turned fifteen. The prince scowled with almost comical anger and frustration, Merlin grinned, Leon on the other hand put his elbows on his knees and pinched the bridge of his nose

 _“I am_ the prince of Camelot” he said his back straightened and he held his chin up with pride looking down his nose at Merlin who rolled his eyes

“I meant your name dollophead”

“Merlin” said Leon warningly “don’t you have a lesson with Gaius to be getting-”

“Arthur” the prince blurted out looking surprised at himself. Just then Gwen ran around the corner

“There you are Merlin, I’ve been looking for you for **ages** ” she shouted from near the tree.

“I’ve got to go!” He said excitedly “bye Arthur, bye Leon” he said waving as he ran over to Gwen, he almost didn’t hear the almost squeak of Arthur’s goodbye, Gwen curtsied as they passed Arthur.

“Were you talking to the prince?” She asked when they were out of earshot, she tilted her head

“Yeah, he seems like a bit of a cabbage head though” Gwen looked shocked and covered her mouth with her hand “what?” Merlin asked

“You’re very strange Merlin” was all she said, well what sort of an answer was that? Merlin thought. He shook his head

“Race you to Gaius’” he challenged.


	2. Chapter 2

Merlin decided that he wanted to make friends with Arthur. Whenever Merlin saw him he was alone, he had never seen him with a friend their age. Merlin had seen him watching the knights train but they were older than him and he wasn’t allowed to join in. They weren’t his friends, he was only allowed hang around them because he was the prince and they looked at him like he was made of glass and they were terrified to hurt him.

The next time Merlin saw him he and Gwen were on their way back from a lesson with Gaius. Arthur was sitting on the bench that Leon had been sitting on when they’d met a few weeks ago, digging a groove into the dirt with the point of his sword looking miserable. Merlin grinned at the back of his head

“Hi Arthur!” He shouted cheerfully, Arthur looked over his shoulder scowling, Gwen curtsied he rolled his eyes and turned back around glaring at the grass. Merlin wrinkled his nose in thought before running over, Gwen tripping after him. He sat down on the bench next to Arthur who scooted away looking affronted

“Yes? What do you want?” He asked

“Why do you look so sad?” Asked Merlin

“I’m the prince of Camelot I don’t have to answer to you”

“But I want to know why” Merlin wined “maybe I can help” he said springing back to his feet, Arthur continued to frown

“Merlin, I don’t think the prince wants to talk right now” piped up Gwen Merlin cocked his head her voice was unusually timid. Arthur stood up making himself as tall as he could, puffing out his chest

“As the prince I ordered you to **leave me** **alone** ” he said said the last three words very slowly as if Merlin didn’t understand, which he didn’t but that was besides the point

“We’re very sorry sire” Gwen said in the same small voice she curtsied again, she raised her eyebrows at Merlin who responded with a confused look before using the bottom of his shirt to curtsy too, shaking his head and shrugging in confusion. What was she trying to tell him?

Arthur tried to hold back a smile, how stupid was this kid to not know how to bow?

Merlin saw Arthur hold back a smile, at least he’d managed to do something right, he felt proud of himself - making friends here was much easier than making friends in Ealdor. Gwen grabbed his upper arm and dragged Merlin away, that was annoying he was about to try and ask Arthur why he was upset now that he felt happy enough to smile. All was forgotten and forgiven when Gwen took him to the stables to deliver some things from her dad’s blacksmith to the stable hands. Merlin stood at the door looking at the horses that were at least three times his height, _oh wow_ was all he could think.

O=|======>

Later that night after having dinner with the Young’s he sat in his room doodling the dragon he’d seen in his dream on his first night in Camelot. He started to nod off and the (thankfully corked) bottle of ink rolled onto the floor and under the bed, Merlin slid off the bed after it. The bottle had rolled under the bed so far that it was almost touching the wall, Merlin army crawled under the bed to retrieve it. He put his hand on a floorboard to steady himself while he reached out for the little bottle when a spark of magic zapped through him. Merlin shivered. He grabbed the bottle and looked around for what could have made his magic spark like that. He found that the floorboard was loose, _this could be handy for storing stu_ \- his thought was cut short, someone else had already had that idea. In the space under the floorboards there was a book bound in mahogany leather. He looked over his shoulder before pulling the book out and scooting back from under the bed. The book was beautiful. Transfixed by it he sat on his bed stroking the indent of the engraved runes all over the book, the gemstones on the cover glowed blue, they seemed to be their own light source, his magic tingled excitedly.

Gingerly he opened the front cover, he wished he could read the beautiful handwriting, he recognised some of the words now but not enough to tell what was being said. He flipped through the pages, it seemed like this had been written by one person over years, many of the pages were written in different coloured inks and some had multiple colours on the same page as if the writer had corrected themselves later on, some bits of writing had been scribbled out or re-written. There were lots of note cards squashed in between pages with splattered ink like they’d been written while half asleep.

Merlin was amazed by the drawings that accompanied some of the pages they were beautifully detailed of plants and mythical creatures, potions and diagrams of rituals and runes, Merlin recognised some of them that his mummy had shown him.

He sat like that, cross legged on his bed with the book in his lap, delicately stroking the pages with his thumb as he took in every detail before flipping the page until the sun turned the sky a light grey. His eyes were wide with awe happy tears fighting to escape but he didn’t want them to fall onto the page. He was not alone. He’d always known he wasn’t, he knew the stories but seeing it, holding the evidence felt ... he didn’t even know how to describe it, it felt like his heart was going to explode from joy. After he’d finished examining a page he flipped it, disappointed to find there wasn’t anymore writing, he didn’t understand why, there were plenty of pages left in the book. He frowned and turned the page back over, looking for something he could have missed. The writing was in black and very splotchy it took up about a quarter of the page, there was a painting as well that had been drawn on one of the note cards, as usual it was beautiful. This one was a painting of the castle, Merlin recognised the view from the hill where he had first seen the spectacular castle. Maybe he’d be able to understand why it stopped so suddenly when he could read. A knock on his door yanked him out of his thoughts, he hurriedly shoved the book under his pillow

“Hello?” He yawned

“It’s time for breakfast Merlin” Gwen’s mum said through the door

“Do you want me to help?” He asked, he tried to help around the house as much as possible, partly because because it was a nice thing to do to thank the Young’s for taking him in and partly because he got bored sitting around doing nothing while Gwen was busy.

“No thank you sweetie, I can manage” she said kindly before walking to the other rooms. Merlin slid of his bed and hid the fantastic book safely back where he’d found it.

O=|======>

After a month Merlin had made lots of new friends, mostly with the peasant and servants’ children who lived in the lower town but one of the Young’s neighbours had a daughter a few years older than him that had started to be friends with him. Gwen had introduced him to her older brother Elyan he was cool and friendly but he had his own group of friends so they didn’t spend much time together. He was very impressed how well he’d managed to keep his magic a secret, Will had already found out after this long of being his friend, but then again he hadn’t sneezed and accidentally made it snow yet.

Merlin was trooping through the courtyard with a group of his friends heading towards the city entrance, they were heading into the woods for the day. As they passed the fountain in the centre he saw Arthur sitting on it reading a book watching the procession of kids of all ages jealously. Merlin snuck away from the group and looked back to make sure none of the teenagers who were sent to watch them had seen.

“Hi Arthur” he said grinning

“I thought I told you to leave me alone” Arthur said grumpily looking at his boots

“Well we’re going into the woods, do you want to come with us?” He asked hopefully

“I’m not allowed” he grumbled, Merlin made a stupid face

“Why not? It’s not like Leon’s going to let you get hurt, if there’s anything _slightly_ dangerous he doesn’t let me do it and you’re the prince! Seriously he’s no fun” Merlin’s eyes getting comically larger the more he spoke waving his arms around to emphasise his point. Arthur sucked in his lips to stop smiling “but if you’re scared...” Merlin taunted

“I am not scared!” Snapped Arthur hopping off the fountain

“Let’s go then or they’ll notice we’re missing” dragging Arthur by the sleeve.

When they caught up with the group Leon turned around to tell Merlin off for running off when he saw the newest addition to the party

“Sire” he said bowing his head respectfully Merlin rolled his eyes and dragged Arthur off to find Gwen who was chatting with a few girls further forward in the group

“Oh hi Merlin” she curtsied at Arthur, Merlin tipped his head back in exasperation

“Why do people keep doing that!?”

“Because I’m the prince?” Arthur said confused

“So? You’re still a human”

“You’re weird Merlin”

“At least I’m not grumpy” he smiled.

The further they walked the more relaxed Arthur became, by the time they reached a stream and decided to stop for lunch he was laughing and chatting with everyone. After lunch the group decided to make a game of jumping over the stream. Merlin charged at the water, undershot where the other bank was and fell backwards with a splash everyone burst out laughing, Merlin stood up and shook like a wet dog with a huge grin on his face

“How are you so clumsy?” Gasped Arthur through laughs

“Natural talent” Merlin shivered.

Autumn was properly set in now, the ground was practically orange from all of the leaves covering it and the wind was cold. Even though it was still early afternoon they all started to head back to the city, it got dark quickly now and they didn’t want to get lost at night. The closer they got to the castle the more tense Arthur became, he stopped chatting and joking and hid his feelings again

“What’s wrong?” Merlin asked, he seemed like the only one who noticed the change

“I’ve had enough of being around people” he took a deep breath before adding “and I disobeyed the king’s orders and he’s going to punish me for it”

“But you’re his son, surely you can get away with anything”

“Not if it’s against him, I wish I hadn’t come out today” he said kicking some leaves angrily

“Didn’t you have fun?” Merlin asked worried

“Yes but that’s not the point” Arthur moped “prince’s aren’t supposed to go and play silly beggars in the woods with the children of servants” Merlin didn’t know how to respond to that so walked in silence next to an increasing irritable Arthur.

By the time the group reached the entrance of Camelot the torches were starting to be lit. As they made their way through the lower town kids split off from the party into their homes, by the time they reached the entrance to the upper town only Leon, Merlin and Arthur were left

“Merlin you go home, I’ll escort the prince back to the castle”

“Ok Leon” Merlin beamed “bye Arthur” he said waving goodbye

“Thank you for letting me join you today” Arthur said sheepishly.

O=|======>

Later that night Merlin was sat on his bed looking at the beautiful book again, he knew how to read enough to know that this was the diary and spellbook of a sorcerer called Max, they’d lived in Merlin’s room when magic was allowed. They used to study magic creatures and wrote down their experiments for potions and new spells.

He was sounding out the words in his head when he heard someone come up the stairs and he shoved the book under his pillow just in time for when Leon walked in

“Hello Merlin, what are you up to?”

“Nothing.” Merlin replied far to quickly and answered Leon’s raised eyebrows with a sweet smile that if anything made him look more suspicious

“Alright then,” said Leon sitting on the end of Merlin’s bed “it was very nice of you to invite prince Arthur to join us today, but the king has told me to tell you not to do it again. Prince Arthur isn’t allowed to leave the city especially not with no one to protect him”

“But I was looking after him and it’s not like he got hurt, I was the one who got soaked”

“It’s not the same Merlin,” he said kindly “you are a very good and friendly person but it is best if you don’t try and befriend the prince” Merlin frowned, that didn’t seem very fair to him “it’s getting late, you’d better get to bed, goodnight Merlin.” Said Leon ruffling his hair and leaving. Merlin put the book back in it’s home under the floorboards, changed into his night clothes and snuggled into bed before extinguishing the single candle with his magic and going to sleep.

O=|======>

Merlin and Gaius were picking herbs at the edge of the woods when they saw the procession of horses ride past, in the middle of the cluster of horses was a very fancy light blue and gold carriage, it was worlds away Tristan and Isolde’s which had been made out of old splintering black wood with beams over its windows like a prison cell.

“What was that?”

“That was the king of Nemeth, he has come to discuss trade with the king. There will be a feast tonight in his honour”

“Can I come? I’ve never been to a feast before”

“Yes I have been invited and as my ward that invitation extends to you. The Young’s are going as well but as you are not noble born you’ll sit with me.”

Merlin couldn’t care less where he would be sitting as long as he was allowed to go.

There weren’t many other children in the great hall, most of the nobles children were older like Leon. Merlin and Gaius sat towards the end of the table, Merlin was bored he didn’t have anyone to talk to and the food hadn’t been bought out yet. He looked around for Leon who was sitting about half way up the table opposite, he managed to catch his eye and waved Leon smiled and waved back. The doors swung open and everyone stood up. Merlin had never seen King Uther before, he made an intimidating first impression. He was very tall and had a stoic expression, Merlin could swear he could feel his hatred of magic radiating off of him as he strode past. Merlin put his head down and looked at the floor until Uther was half way up the table. Arthur was trailing behind him with shoulders back and chin in the air trying not to look panicked, Merlin didn’t blame him for feeling scared, everyone in the room was looking in his direction and his farther felt like he should have ominous music following him. Behind him was the king of Nemeth and his daughter who shared the same dark hair and eyes, the other king was shorter than King Uther but that wasn’t hard, the princess was as small as Merlin and worrying her bottom lip as they walked up to the head table and sat in their places, the two kings in the middle with their children either side of them. King Uther stayed standing but everyone else sat down as one.

“We meet here to renew our trade agreement with the kingdom of Nemeth, this year we also welcome Princess Mithian of Nemeth and we hope that free trade between our kingdoms will strengthen into the far future. But tonight we toast to a productive tomorrow and feast.” Uther spoke in a booming confident voice before sitting down on his throne. Then the food was bought out in huge platters

“I’ve never seen this much food in my life!” Merlin said excitedly Gaius chuckled at him

“Don’t make yourself sick Merlin”

Now Merlin knew his way around the castle better he’d gotten his job of making Gaius’ medicine runs back, he didn’t get lost half as much and was able to read Gaius’ notes about who the potions were for.

The day after the feast he was taking a shortcut past the training grounds when he saw Arthur training with a knight and Princess Mithian watching from a bench.

“I wish I could learn to use a crossbow” she said “but farther says it isn’t ‘proper’” she emphasised the ‘proper’ with air quotes

“Hi Arthur” Merlin waved. Arthur released his crossbow bolt which flew wide over the target

“You idiot you made me miss the target!”

“Arthur be nice to him, he was only saying hello” Princess Mithian said calmingly

“Yeah he keeps doing that” Arthur scowled putting another blot in his crossbow and firing, this time hitting the target he grinned proudly, Princess Mithian rolled her eyes

“What’s you’re name?” She asked him

“Merlin” he said curtsying Princess Mithian laughed

“Merlin why are you curtsying? Boy’s don’t curtsy, they bow” Merlin frowned, Arthur was snickering behind her “Arthur show him.”

“What why me?” Arthur spluttered annoyed. The princess stood up and stood tall trying to make herself feel taller than Arthur. She succeeded. “Because” she said regally “you are the prince of Camelot and you have a duty to your people” Arthur scowled again

“Fine”

After a while the three children were standing on the training field. Arthur was showing the other two how to use a crossbow. Mithian released her bolt

“Oh wow, you’re a really good shot Mithian, shame you’re a girl you’d make a really good knight” said Arthur

“Who says I can’t be both Pendragon?” She said with a smirk “Queen Annis is a knight”

“Then you’ll definitely be a great knight!” Said Merlin

“Yes” Arthur agreed “your turn Merlin” Merlin pulled a face

“I don’t think I’ll be a very good shot”

“We’ll make sure to stand far behind you then” Merlin stuck his tongue out at the prince and put the crossbow against his shoulder like Arthur had shown them and pulled the trigger nothing happened, he squeezed it harder and heard giggling from behind him

“It might help if you reload it Merlin” laughed Mithian

“WHAT. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?” Shouted Uther storming around the corner

“Sorry farther,” said Arthur in a small voice taking the crossbow from a frozen Merlin and stared at his feet

“SILENCE.” He snapped, Arthur shrank under his farther’s glare “Get out of my site!” He growled it took Merlin a second to register that King Uther was talking to him before bolting away.

Like when he ran from Ealdor or from the bandits, he had no idea where he was going he just ran until the adrenaline ran out. He was in the woods somewhere. He decided to just sit and breathe for a while and think about what to do next. He was just thinking that it would be best to try and follow the path he’d taken but in reverse when he heard hooves coming towards him from the opposite direction from Camelot. He scampered behind a tree when he saw a flash of Camelot red, it was the patrol on their way back. _Well that’ll be easier than tracking my way home_ he thought as he crept through the woods after them.

Leon turned around to talk to one of the knights behind him when he saw a flash of black hair oh no he thought. He did the signal to stop and jumped off his horse with his hand on the pommel of his sword in case it wasn’t who he thought it was.

“Merlin?” he heard a stern but familiar voice said, he poked his head from around the tree “what are you doing out here?” Merlin just started at the floor feeling guilty, Leon had told him something like this would happen “ok,” he said after a while realising Merlin wasn’t going to speak “let’s go back to Camelot” Merlin’s eyes wide and his brow wrinkled in fear “Merlin what’s wrong?” Leon was getting concerned now, Merlin wasn’t a quiet kid. Merlin shook his head. Leon took Merlin’s hand so he couldn’t run off again and lead him back to the horses.

O=|======>

Merlin hadn’t tried to talk to Arthur since, in fact he actively avoided him and stared at the floor if they happened to pass so he never noticed Arthur’s disappointed face whenever it happened.

O=|======>

Merlin was helping Gwen’s mum clean the Young’s living room when there was a knock on the door. Gwen’s mum stood up and dusted off her apron chuckling at Merlin who was stretching to reach the mantelpiece, and answered it

“Hello sire” she said in a concerned voice Merlin started getting worried. _Had Uther found out about his magic? No how could he, I haven’t done any_ he thought

“Is Merlin here?” Said distinctly not King Uther’s voice

“Yes, is he in trouble?”

“No? It’s just, he hasn’t bugged me for ages and I wondered if he was ok” _what?_

“Yes he is perfectly ok” there was an awkward silence

“Can I talk to him please?” Gwen’s mum looked around the door at Merlin who nodded and she let Arthur in. He smiled as soon as he saw Merlin covered in soot

“Hello Merlin!” He grinned Merlin flashed him a smile but didn’t say anything

“Why are you scared of me?”

“I’m not”

“Then why have you been acting... you know... all respectful and stuff?”

“King Uther told me to get away from you” he murmured so that he could only just be heard. If the young warlock had thought he’d been scared of the king at the feast that was nothing on now.

“Well as the prince I order you to keep annoying me”

“You’re not the boss of me” Merlin said unable to hide his grin

“Except I literally am, I’m the prince” Merlin rolled his eyes. The grin fell from his face as he thought

“What if the king finds out, I don’t think he likes you being around me”

“If he says anything I’ll tell him it’s my fault and I told you to follow me”

“Ok” he said perking up “what do you want to do?”

“Know any card games?” Arthur asked pulling a deck from his pocket Merlin shook his head “I’ll teach you”

O=|======>

Merlin had snook out into the woods. A few weeks ago on his rounds he’d found a secret passage that lead under the castle walls and came out at the back of a cave somewhere deep in the woods, in summer it would have been shaded by the layers of green leaves that would block out the sky but now if he looked up he could see the grey-white sky. He found a space that was large enough for him to spin around with his arms out. After he finished spinning he stumbled dizzy for a second shook his head and pulled the spellbook out of his satchel and flipped through the pages until he found the spell he was looking for. Merlin hadn’t done magic for months and wanted to try out one of the spells he’d been reading about for weeks. Merlin took a few deep breaths, took a quick look at the incantation again from the book that he’d left open at his feet

“Papilio creo” he grinned, nothing had happened but he’d felt his magic react. This _was_ going to work.

The sorcerer shook his hands and his magic buzzed, he took a breath and checked the words before closing his eyes and felt his magic flow “Papilio creo” he cracked an eye. Nothing. He tried again...and again...and again...and again...and again.

The sun was about to start getting low he should probably head back through the tunnel. _Oh one more go_ he thought. He took a dink while reading the page again, he seemed to be doing it right. He stood up and tried again “Papilio creo” he said with determination. This time he knew that it’d worked, he felt his magic leaving his body and felt it fluttering around him he opened his eyes and beamed as a bright blue butterfly flew around his head. He did it! He did it! He did it! He felt like he was about to explode and his cheeks hurt from smiling he jumped around in excitement, he’d never done a spell like this before, before his magic had been instinctual or manipulating pre-existing objects. He’d just made something with it. The butterfly faded away into golden dust. “Papilio creo, Papilio creo, Papilio creo, Papilio creo, Papilio creo, Papilio creo!” He said, as he span around he lifted his arm. He collapsed onto the ground and watched the spiral of six beautiful multi coloured butterfly’s. He took shallow awe filled breaths as he watched them disintegrate into pure magic one after the other. He suddenly felt exhausted, his magic had quietened again. Good, that means it should behave itself until he could sneak away again.

He packed up his spellbook and water skin in his bag and took out an apple from his lunch that he’d forgotten to eat and headed back to the cave, smiling to himself as he ate.


	3. Chapter 3

“I don’t understand how you can be so clumsy” said Arthur asked exasperated helping Merlin off the floor, Merlin shrugged

“I’m used to it” he said rubbing his knee where it’d hit the stairs as he slid down them. Arthur slung the bag that Merlin has been carrying over his shoulder

“Is your knee ok?”

“Yeah it’s fine, look it’s not even bleeding” he said waving his friend away as he rolled up his trouser leg to look at the graze that was bleeding slightly “ok maybe a little bit but I’m sure it’ll be fine after uncle Gaius cleans it up” he said rather too cheerfully for someone who just fell down the stairs Arthur thought

“Maybe he can see if you have a brain in there or if it’s absence is what makes you so clumsy” Arthur grinned

“Maybe he can do the same for you, just to make sure you don’t _actually_ have a turnip for a brain” Arthur pretended to look offended

“You can’t talk to the prince like that”

“I should be able to if he’s being a cabbage head” he thought for a second then added “my Lord” with a sarcastically low bow Arthur rolled his eyes

“Come on let’s get these to Gaius and try not to fall on your face _again_ ” he turned and continued to walk up the stairs. Merlin made a mocking face and was tempted to use a spell to make him trip, no he decided, that was a bad and stupid use of his talents and he was definitely above using it for such a petty thing he thought as his eyes flashed gold and Arthur stumbled up a few steps before regaining his balance and looking around to see if anyone saw, Merlin smiled at him with all the innocence he could which just made him seem more smug and guilty, Arthur scowled, shook his head and continued up the staircase with Merlin jogging after him.

They were at the top of the stairs and were about to open Gaius’ door when they heard an raised voice inside

“ **You would do well to keep that pestilential child away from Arthur, Gaius. I will not have him filling my son’s head with silly childish notions about how to run his kingdom** ” Arthur froze next to him Merlin scowled in concern then they heard Gaius’ calm voice

“Sire I believe that it will do Arthur the world of good to have a friend his own age, if he does not socialise in his youth he will grow up a miserable child”

“ **I. Do not. Care. The well-being of the kingdom comes before happiness, I will not have that boy making Arthur a weak minded king.** ” Merlin gently put his hand on Arthur’s shoulder who flinched

“Let’s go, we can bring uncle Gaius’ supplies to him later” he whispered. Arthur nodded stiffly and Merlin quietly lead him back down the stairs.

They got back to Arthur’s room and he sat sadly on the edge of his bed. Merlin stood awkwardly by the door

“Are you ok?” Arthur shrugged but stared sadly at the floor. Merlin had an idea “wait here!” He said scrambling off through the halls.

He slowed down when he was closer to the kitchen and ducked into an alcove, he knows he should feel sad for Arthur and he does but he can’t help the tingle of excitement as he starts to act out his plan. For the past few weeks Merlin had been reading the spellbook looking for a spell to try the next time he managed to get back to the clearing and he’d found one that Max said could turn you invisible. He took a breath and wiggled his fingers and tried to remember the words

“dèan mi do-fhaicsinneach” he whispered, after a few times and when he felt his magic work he looked down at his hands and just saw the stone floor underneath him he grinned _I love magic_ he thought as he looked all around himself to make sure that all of him had disappeared. Once he was sure that he wasn’t a pair of floating eyes or something stupidly obvious he crept out along the corridor. He had to dodge around a few servants but apart from that he made it to the kitchen without a problem.

At the door he was thinking about how to get in without anyone noticing when the door swung open. He slipped past the scullery maid who’d opened it and was hit in the face by a cacophony of shouts and metal clashing with metal and stone and delicious smells, the young warlock snuck through the dim, crowded room he dodged around people following his nose to a tray of right out of the oven sweet rolls. He folded up the bottom of his shirt like a pouch, looked over his shoulders to make sure no one was looking before grabbing a few rolls and dropped them into his makeshift pocket “ow ow ow” he breathed as the food burned his fingers a little. He was glad that the rolls turned invisible when they were covered by his shirt because he hadn’t thought about what he’d do if they hadn’t, he snuck back to the door with four hot rolls.

He was making his way back to Arthur’s three knights rounded the corner, Merlin presses himself against the wall, one of them sniffed the air

“Do you guys smell something?”

“No” said Leon smelling as well “I think you’re just hungry Galahad” as they passed Merlin could have sworn he saw Leon look at him, he ran off as quietly as he could. It was only when he was back at Arthur’s room when he realised he didn’t know how to become visible again. He screwed his face up. He ran around the corner to one of the many supply closest and found parchment, ink and a quill

_**For Arthur from Merlin :)** _

he scribbled on a page and took it back to Arthur’s door, he placed the four sweet rolls on the parchment with the note clearly visible, he knocked on the door and stood back so Arthur wouldn’t nudge him or something and freak out. Arthur opened the door with shoulders back and looking up, then confused he looked down the corridors and frowned. Merlin rolled his invisible eyes _just look down you dollophead_ and as if he heard Merlin’s thoughts he did. Arthur’s face split into a huge smile and looked around eagerly for his friend and started right through him

“I guess I’ll see you later then” he said and Merlin had the slap his hands over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Arthur closed his door taking the treats with him, Merlin ran back to his bedroom to see what Max had to say for themselves.

O=|======>

After a while Arthur and a now visible Merlin went up to Gauis’ rooms again with the bag of herbs

“Sorry we’re late Uncle Gaius, we got lost playing with Gwen in the woods”

“That’s perfectly alright boys,” the old physician “would you like to help me make a healing potion?” The two nod enthusiastically.

For the rest of the afternoon the two ‘helped’ Gaius. Merlin ran around grabbing jars of flowers and leaves and throwing them into a bowl once Gaius had confirmed that they were the right ones (they weren’t). Arthur had started out by helping crush the ingredients but soon got bored and decided to sit on the bedroom stairs with a medical book and point out gross diseases to Merlin whenever he wizzed past (“Eww that one looks like your face” was heard more than once from both of them). As the sun started setting Gaius sent them both running off to their respective dinners. After Gaius waved them off he slumped against the door exhausted, let out a long sigh and went back to his work station to remake the potion. They we’re fantastic kids but he couldn’t wait for them to understand and follow instructions, knowing in the back of his brain that it would never happen.

O=|======>

Gwen, Merlin and Arthur sat on a shorter bit of the wall separating the upper and lower town eating lunch together. Three months ago Arthur wouldn’t have been seen dead eating lunch with two servant kids but he found he liked them, it was much nicer hanging out with people who chose to be nice to him rather than having to be.

“So how come you live in Camelot?” Asked Gwen, her legs swinging happily as she talked

“I came from a village called Ealdor in Essetir”

“That’s in king Cenred’s kingdom” Arthur said confused Merlin nodded

“It got invaded by someone, I don’t know who but my mummy sent me to live with Uncle Gaius”

“How did you get to Camelot without your mum?” Asked Gwen. Merlin panicked a little on the inside as he tried to think of an excuse

“Err Old man Simmons helped some of the kids get out on his wagon”

“Oh” she paused for a minute “do you miss your mum? Sorry that’s a stupid question sorry”

“Yeah I miss her but I have a lot more friends here than I did in Ealdor everyone there thought I was weird” Arthur cocked his head

“You are weird but good weird”

“Thank you? I guess” Merlin giggled shaking his head

O=|======>

Merlin and Gwen had been sitting in the courtyard playing with dolls that Gwen’s mum had made from left over fabric when the warning bells rang out. It was the loudest sound Merlin had ever heard, he pressed his hands over his ears trying to muffle the sound. Gwen tried to shout something at him but he didn’t understand so she grabbed his elbow and dragged him through the streets until they crashed through the door of the blacksmiths. Once she’d sat him one of the chairs at the table Gwen mimed removing his hands from his ears and smiled kindly as he did

“It’s ok Merlin,” she said softly over the muffled sound of the bell in the distance “it’s a warning bell telling people to go home. The guards and knights will keep us safe” Merlin nodded

“What do you think’s going on?” Gwen shrugged

“It usually means something bad’s going on in the castle, maybe it’s a sorcerer” Merlin’s eyes went wide in panic “but it’s probably not” Gwen said quickly “as long as we stay inside we’ll be ok” Merlin nodded but curled into the chair more

O=|======>

Merlin’s magic felt like it might explode. He got dressed quietly, the world outside his window was pitch black, not even the stars were visible through the thick blue clouds. Lady Young quietly pushed his door open

“Are you ready?” Merlin nodded, picked up the bag with Max’s spellbook in and followed her down the stairs where Gaius waited with his own bag.

Merlin followed behind him as they walked through the lower town and towards the wall surrounding the city. Two guards were posted at the gates, they both looked tired and one yawned as they approached

“Where are you two going?”

“My ward and I are going to collect a plant that only blooms today and we wish to return before it darkens” the guard waved them through. Merlin was amazed at how easily uncle Gaius had lied to them he was rubbish at lying and his mummy could always tell if he tried to.

Deep in the woods Merlin ran ahead of Gaius and spread his arms wide letting his magic explode out in golden tendrils. Gaius smiled quizzically as he watched his ward rolling around in the dirt and leaves with a massive grin on his face. Gaius decided not to question it and sat against a tree and watched the boy running around like a wild animal shooting magic back into the world.

After a while of running Merlin sat down on the ground with crossed legs. His magic had calmed down a bit after his explosion but it was very powerful on All Hallows’ Eve. He smiled and started creating butterflies, he wanted to practice some new spells but he hadn’t had much time to pick one before they snuck out of the citadel

“How did you do that Merlin?” Gaius asked from his tree smiling at Merlin’s awed face watching his creations

“I found a book a spellbook underneath my floor” he turned to Gaius feeling sheepish “sometimes I go into the woods when my magic feels too...” he waved his hands around trying to think of how to describe how it felt to have lots of magic squashed inside you “...big?” He settled on. Gaius nodded slowly

“Can you show me the book?” Merlin nodded and ran to get it from his bag

“Max made some of their own spells but I haven’t tried any of them yet but they said that this one is their favourite” he said giving the book to Gaius and turning to the butterfly page “Papilio creo” he said and a yellow butterfly appeared on his hand before flying away “I like it too, it took me ages to learn”

“And how long did it take you?”

“A _whole_ day” Gaius raised an eyebrow but Merlin didn’t notice he was already flipping through the book looking for another spell to try. After practicing a few shield charms (only of of which worked) Merlin was exhausted but his magic was still buzzing. He settled next to Gaius who was setting up lunch.

After lunch Gaius listened to him read from the story that they’d been using in his lessons, then he learned all about the types of plants that live in the woods and helped his uncle pick ones that had medicinal properties, when Gaius’ satchel was full they made their way back to the clearing. Gaius had a nap under the pretence of ‘he was only resting his eyes’ and Merlin practiced making shields again, whenever he’d made a shield before it was instinctive like when he’d pushed those bandits away from him

“Dwi’n cysgodi fy hun” he repeated until a thin barely visible golden bubble sprouted around him, he was very impressed with this one, it only had one crack in it whereas the one before had had lots. He wondered if it worked on other people. He knelt down and looked in the book in Max’s added scribble it said

_**To cast on others exchange me with you to make “Dwi’n eich cysgodi” for one person or “Dwi’n eu cysgodi” for a group** _

Merlin directed the incantation at his snoozing uncle and was delighted when he saw the slight gold shimmer around him. The little sorcerer spent the next half an hour throwing small objects at the shield, he’d like to test some spells on it but he didn’t know any and he wouldn’t want anything to happen to Gaius if it didn’t work. As the sun started to set the two made there way back to Camelot.

At the gates Gaius had to show the contents of his bag and they were allowed to move through. In the courtyard Arthur ran up to him looking panicked

“Merlin what were you doing out of the city?! It’s dangerous there are loads of sorcerers using magic today! Have you made a jack of lantern?” He said holding up a roughly carved turnip which just looked like a waste of food to Merlin. Merlin was about to say as much when the warning bell rang “here take mine” he said handing over the vegetable “and get home quickly before it gets dark and don’t answer the door” and with that he was off racing back towards the castle. Merlin stood there stunned

“What was that about?” He asked Gaius

“Prince is worried about the spirits and magic that will walk the streets tonight, he has been taught that magic is a force of evil since he could walk and is scared.” Gaius told him as he led the little boy back to the Young’s house “now Merlin, I want you to stay in your room until morning and don’t do anymore of your little secret.” Merlin nodded and Gaius crouched down to hug him tight.

In bed Merlin decided that as soon as he could he was going to tell Arthur that he was magic and that it wasn’t evil because he wasn’t. He was going to show him that there was nothing scary about his magic. He smiled and snuggled down to sleep, his magic humming happily inside him.

O=|======>

Merlin didn’t get to see Arthur the next morning. The older kids were taking them to play in the woods. This was the biggest group of kids they’d ever taken, it looked like nearly every child in Camelot was coming this time. Merlin looked around for his blond friend and couldn’t find him, he didn’t want to tell Arthur his secret in a big crowd (he wasn’t stupid) but he wanted to mess around with all of his friends

“Where’s Arthur?” He asked Leon who was taking him to the meeting place

“He has very important prince duties today and can’t come with you”

“Oh” he said disappointed and went off to find Gwen as Leon left too.

Merlin was exhausted when they got home (though luckily not soaked this time) but decided to go and see Gaius, while they’d been playing hide and seek he’d picked some of the plants that Uncle Gaius had shown him. He ran up physicians chambers and went in without knocking.

“Hi uncle Gaius. Phew the courtyard smelt really bad today” he said pulling his tunic down from his nose “oh hi Arthur” he said cheerfully. He frowned, Arthur looked terrible his face was all blotchy and his eyes and nose were red “are you ok?” He asked gently, Arthur stood up on the bench and whispered something in Gaius’ ear while covering his mouth with his hand, Gaius nodded and shook the princes hand

“I’m fine” said Arthur smiling weakly “I’m just got a cold is all” for some reason Merlin didn’t believe him

“What have you been up to today Merlin?” Asked Gaius distracting him from prodding more. Merlin sat next to Arthur and gave the other two a long winded story about all the stuff him and the other kids had done while in the woods.

“I wish I could have gone with you” Arthur grumbled as they walked back to their homes, he kicked a pebble across the courtyard. He refused to look up even when Merlin waved goodbye to him when they had to split off from each other. Merlin vaguely wondered why he was so miserable before the smell of dinner blew all other thoughts from his head.


	4. Chapter 4

“ _Mer_ lin, where are we going?” Arthur wined

“You’ll see, we’re nearly there” the pair had been walking through the abandoned siege tunnel for fifteen minutes, Merlin had refused to tell Arthur where they were going or why and he was starting to go from curious to bored.

“Stop trying to be mysterious Merlin, it doesn’t suit you” he said stepping over a large bit of collapsed rock

“I’m not _‘trying to be mysterious’_ ” he air quoted “I just want it to be a surprise that’s all” Arthur rolled his eyes and they bickered and chatted until they could see daylight. They exited the tunnel and squelched through the leaves. Merlin smiled, looking around

“Yes Merlin this was _definitely_ worth the trip” Arthur said crossing his arms and rolling his eyes

“Not the place you dollophead, I wanted to show you something” Merlin looked at Arthur nervously “but you have to **promise** not to tell **anyone**.” He said as sternly as possible

“I promise” said Arthur rolling his eyes, Merlin was so overdramatic sometimes. Merlin frowned

“No Arthur. You need to **really** promise. It’s a **big** secret and I’m not supposed to tell **anyone** , not even you. So do you promise not to tell anyone?” He said sternly sticking his pinky out to Arthur. Arthur thought for a second

“Not even Gaius?”

“No, I’ll get in trouble if he knows I told you.” Arthur frowned in thought before taking Merlin’s finger with his own

“I solemnly swear to keep your secret from everyone including Gaius” they shook their linked hands and nodded seriously before Merlin’s face split into a grin. Merlin thought about what he could show Arthur to show that magic was good. He smiled as he knelt on the ground, he brushed away some of the grotty leaves so that they could both see the dirt. Merlin looked at Arthur to make sure he was watching, Arthur looked at Merlin with a concerted frown as if he thought Merlin had gone mad but he was watching. Merlin put his hand flat to the earth and pulled for his magic he felt it tingling through his arm and smiled at the ground encouragingly. As he lifted his hand a small spring daisy grew he grinned up at Arthur who looked terrified.

“You... you... just did **magic**?!” He said stumbling back onto his bum

“Yes but it’s not scary, it’s just a flower it can’t hurt you”

“Farther says magic is evil! You’re not allowed to use it!” He panicked, Merlin walked over and sat next to his friend looking down at his hands which were fiddling in his lap

“I know,” he said quietly “I know you’re dad says magic is evil but it’s not, it can be really nice” he said looking at his friend who was adamantly not looking at him, he gave a sad smile “you won’t tell him will you?” He said suddenly worried. Arthur shook his head slowly, knocking his chin against his knees but didn’t say anything, just stared at the flower. After a while of silence, Merlin shifting constantly because of the cold and anxiety, Arthur spoke up

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did didn’t you?” Arthur glared at him he put on his goofiest grin, it was weird being serious with Arthur, he was serious with Gaius and Leon but never with Arthur. Arthur was the person who he called stupid names or fought with wooden training swords or who he teamed up with Gwen to dog pile on. Arthur spent a minute thinking

“When did you learn magic I mean you’re way littler than me”

“Hey only half a year” Merlin said indignantly

“And a full one” Arthur pointed out rolling his eyes

“I was born with magic” Arthur scoffed

“I don’t think that’s even possible Merlin” Merlin shrugged

“Well no one taught me, well I found a book about it but that was after I started living here” there was another bout of silence

“Can you show me?” Arthur asked shyly. Merlin grinned and shot up and cupped his hands around his mouth, his eyes glowed gold as he rapidly whispered something into his hands. Suddenly he threw his arms wide and ten tiny Camelot red butterflies escaped them, flying around the clearing, as they faded so did the gold in Merlin’s eyes. He looked at Arthur who’s mouth was handing open in shock.

They stayed in the woods for most of the morning but making sure they’d be back in the city before lunch as Arthur had ‘princely duties’ to do which from his bored expression Merlin took to mean sitting with king Uther and having to pretend to be interested in rations and taxes and other boring adult stuff.

“Remember” Arthur said as they walked through the tunnel again “no matter how good a wizard you are I’ll still be able to put you in your place”

“Nah you won’t, you can’t bully me if you can’t see me so I’ll just turn invisible again”

“I’ll still be able to find you even if you are invisible, you’re too clumsy to miss.” Merlin laughed at this “what?” Arthur said annoyed

“I was invisible the other week. I stood right outside your door and you looked right through me” he said still laughing hysterically

“What when?!”

“When I left you those sweet rolls, you still owe me for two of those by the way, I didn’t think you’d eat all of them” Arthur looked annoyed and without warning grabbed Merlin in a headlock and starting rubbing his hair with his fist. When he let go Arthur was grinning and Merlin rubbed his head

“You’re worse than Will” he said. They talked about Merlin’s life in Ealdor until they got back to Camelot, before they entered back into the city Arthur promised to keep his promise “for ever and ever if we have to”.

O=|======>

“Come ON Merlin, I know you can do better than that!” Arthur said as Merlin hit the floor again. Arthur had spent the best part of the morning ‘training’ Merlin to fight with staffs which realistically meant he’d spent the morning hitting him with a broom handle and shouting numbers that Merlin didn’t understand the meaning of at him

“Can we stop now? I’m freezing” he complained “I’m sure I’ll be black and blue if we carry on” he pouted at Arthur who rolled his eyes

“Fine” he drawled, he was getting cold too but not in a million years would he tell Merlin he was right - he’d never hear the end of it.

“Do you think it’s going to snow this year?” Arthur shrugged

“I hope not, if it does I won’t be able to go outside like not even in the courtyard, I mean how stupid is _that_?” Merlin’s face scrunched up

“Very.” He confirmed.

Much to Arthur’s dismay the next morning Merlin woke up to a light snow falling from the sky. His thoughts turned to his mum. In Ealdor winter was a tense time of year the long cold nights and not always enough food or fule to go around. Families with children were often given help but Merlin knew that his mummy was given less because it was just her, more than once he’d wondered if that’s why he was so small. He hoped she was ok, uncle Gaius said she said she was in her last letter, he wished that he could go and see her but knew that it wasn’t possible. He’d just have to see what winter was like in Camelot.

It was five days until Christmas and the citadel was teaming with servants preparing despite the early hour as he and Gwen ran through the halls. They snuck into Arthur’s room through a secret passage that Merlin’s magic found and definitely didn’t create, they put the cake that Gwen’s mum had helped them make the day before on Arthur’s desk.

“Three... two... one” Merlin whispered to Gwen. The two children sprinted at the four poster bed that their friend was sleeping in and dived on it, crashing into him

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOLLOPHEAD!” Merlin shouted as he collided with Arthur

“Happy birthday Arthur!”

“Go away” Arthur grumbled sleepy into his pillow. Merlin put on a big huff and put his fists on his hips

“ _Fine then_ , me and Gwen will eat _this **lovely**_ cake all by _ourselves_ ”

“Oh no you don’t” said Arthur flinging off his duvet to chase Merlin around the room, Gwen sat on the bed howling with laughter. Arthur caught up to Merlin and tackled him and started tickling, Merlin was squirming on the floor

“Fine...you can have...some cake” he said between fits of giggles. Arthur jumped up and gave Merlin a hand to pull him up too. While the boys were messing around Gwen had cut some of the cake up and handed a slice each to the other two

“Mmmmm this is really good” said Arthur through a mouthful of cake, Gwen slapped him lightly on the arm

“It’s not polite to talk with your mouth full.” She scolded, Arthur rolled his eyes at Merlin

“She’s right” he said even though his cheeks were puffed out like a hamster’s “not princely” Arthur flicked a bit of cake at him. The two devolved into play fighting while Gwen tutted about stupid boys but wasn’t very convincing as she was still smiling at them.

Gwen was teaching them how to make handkerchief dolls when Gaius walked into the room

“Hi uncle Gaius” Merlin waved

“Yes hello. Sire you’re farther needs me to take you to his chambers”

“Why is he ok?” Arthur asked worried

“Yes the king is healthy”

“Then why does he need me, told me to stay in my chambers until the banquet this evening?”

“I cannot tell you with _these two_ here. It is a private matter.” Gaius practically sneered ‘these two’ which was definitely weird Merlin thought and apparently so did Arthur as he shot Merlin a perplexed look, Merlin shrugged

“Well I’m sure you’re farther’ll explain when you get there, we’ll wait here for you” said Gwen cheerfully, Arthur nodded still looking worried, pulled on a red jacket and followed Gaius out of the room. Merlin scowled at Gaius as they left and as soon as the door closed he ran to it and pushed it open enough to see Gaius leading a suspicious looking Arthur down the corridor. He was about to sneak out after them already thinking about casting Max’s invisibility spell when Gwen gasped behind him. When he span around Gwen was staring out of the window “Merlin Gaius is in the courtyard!”

“But he just left with Arthur” he said running over to the window to sure enough see Gaius talking cheerfully to the pregnant lady who ran the fish stall “but... he... what?” He sputtered whipping his head from looking at the Gaius outside to the door that Gaius had just walked through

“What should we do?” Merlin’s mind was racing trying to come up with a plan, out of him and Will it was him who worked out the details of their schemes

“Err I guess... er I don’t know” he could tell Gwen was thinking too

“Ok” she said suddenly “if you can do some sneaking and find mean maybe not Gaius and Arthur, see if you can get Arthur away or hear what’s going on and I’ll go and talk to outside maybe not Gaius, he’s the smartest person in Camelot” she said, Merlin nodded and she ran off.

“dèan mi do-fhaicsinneach” He whispered after she was gone. He reached for his magic that felt like it was tingling with nerves itself ‘ _where’s Arthur_ ’ he thought over and over picturing the hallways. He gasped as his magic found them, the image was fuzzy and golden around the edges, he saw mean probably not Gaius practically dragging a protesting Arthur down a craggy staircase. The image suddenly snapped away and Merlin felt dizzy and a bit sick but he stumbled through the doors letting his funny feeling guide him.

When he caught up with mean almost definitely not Gaius and Arthur the prince was kicking at the old man’s shins and shouting to be let go. Merlin panicked and sent the two flying in opposite directions, he caught Arthur under the arms before he hit his head on something, stood him up, grabbed his wrist and started running before mean almost certainly not Gaius could figure out what was going on. Unfortunately this meant that Arthur also had no idea what was going on either and started to try and fight him too

“Stop struggling cabbage head, I’m trying to help you”

“Merlin?” Arthur asked

“I told you I can be sneaky” he said shooting a grin at Arthur who didn’t see it and dragged him off back towards his chambers.

As they were jogging down one of the corridors a side door opened and Gwen came in with Leon in tow

“Arthur!” She exclaimed happily and looked around “where’s Merlin?” She asked with a frown Arthur shrugged

“I haven’t seen him” Merlin bit his lip to not laugh

“How did you get away?” Leon asked

“I kicked him in the shins and ran” and this was the first but definitely not last time that Arthur took credit for something Merlin did to keep his secret safe. 

“Arthur I need you with me” said the commanding voice of the king as he strode down the corridor Arthur bowed his head and followed behind his farther, he was looking over his shoulders. Merlin put his hand on Arthur’s shoulder to show he was following.

After a while, the group heard loud footsteps about to storm around the corner and the king pulled Arthur into a guest room, Merlin doesn’t make it into the room on time but does see the king walking around the corner _what is going on_? He thinks desperately. After the footsteps of the king fade away the other king exits their hiding spot with Arthur trailing behind him looking a bit like a kicked puppy. Merlin taps his arm again

“I’m not sure if that’s king Uther or not, I just saw him walking down the corridor and earlier me and Gwen saw Gaius in the market seconds after he took you out of your chambers” Merlin whispered Arthur frowned

“Merlin what’s going on?” Arthur said out of the corner of his mouth

“I don’t know, maybe there’ll be something in one of Gauis’ books?”

“What should we do?” Merlin shrugged before remembering he was invisible he chewed his lip as he thought

“Maybe find Leon and Gwen? And then maybe Gaius.The not Gaius was really mean so that could be a clue?” Arthur nodded

“I can’t tell if this is farther or not” he looked glumly at the floor as he said it, Merlin glared at the back of Uther’s head. He squeezed Arthur’s shoulder to show that he was still there

Arthur looked up at the king, squared his shoulders and said

“Far- Your majesty,” he said hooking his pinky around Merlin’s invisible one and squeezing, Merlin looked down confused; why was he doing that? “I believe that there’s a sorcerer in the castle” the king span around furious

“And why would you think _that_?” He spat

“First, Gaius came into my chambers, he was mean and said you needed to see me, he dragged me off, after I escaped Sir Leon told me he had been speaking to Gaius at the time an he’d seemed normal.” The king nodded seemingly thinking quickly

“I will return you to your chambers and you _**will**_ stay there, nobody goes in. Tonight’s banquet is cancelled. Sound the warning bell” he ordered as they passed one of the guards in front of Arthur’s room. The two boys went inside and heard the lock click. Once the king’s footsteps had diminished Merlin removed his invisibly spell, Arthur jumped a little at his sudden appearance

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that” he joked, Merlin gave him a small smile

“So what do we do now?”

“Is there anyway to get us out of here?” He shrugged feeling like he’d much rather go and curl up in front of the fire and have a nap “are you ok?” He nodded

“Just tired, it’s hard sneaking around after you” he grinned “just give me a minute?” Arthur nodded and they both slumped against Arthur’s desk _why does a nine year old need a desk?_ He thought. In the background they heard the warning bell start ringing “we should go to Uncle Gaius’, he’s got loads of books on magic” he yawned 

“I think we should wait for a bit in case farther thinks of the same thing” Merlin nodded

O=|======>

Merlin blinked and rubbed his eyes. He looked around taking in Arthur’s room from where he was still leaning against the desk. Gwen and Arthur were sitting at the table on the other side of the room with a big pile of books. They each had one open but were chatting more than reading. Merlin stood up and stumbled over to them

“What time is it?” He asked rubbing the back of his head climbing onto the chair next to Gwen’s and pulling a book off the pile.

“Nice to see you up lazy daisy” teased Gwen “just gone lunch by the way” she smiled

“Here” said Arthur sliding over a plate with the left over cake on it “the rest of that is for you, we’ve already had ours” Merlin grinned

“What are you researching?” He said cutting himself a slice of cake. Arthur lifted the book to read the title

“Magical creatures of middle England” he read.

The trio went back to reading, Merlin had been flicking through a book of spells looking for a shapeshifting one but had gotten distracted by fire incantations “this is sooo boring” Arthur complained “how do you enjoy doing _this_?!” He wined at Merlin who’d had a goofy grin slapped across his face from almost the minute he started reading, Gwen was also starting to slump

“Fine do you want to swap, looking for spells is easier, you just need to look at the top of the page” he said flipping the book around for Arthur to see “I keep getting distracted anyway” he admitted sheepishly, the two swapped books.

Possession, sheds it’s skin, only turns into animals, has permanently gold eyes, only transforms at night, none of the creatures seemed to fit the situation. Despite it still being afternoon it had gotten dark and Gwen had gone home. Merlin stole Arthur’s book back to light the candles and fire with his magic

“Handy” his friend commented, it was nice doing useful magic without getting told off, weird but nice. Someone knocked on Arthur’s door. Merlin’s eyes flashed and books flew from the table to hiding places all over the room, Merlin followed one under the bed, lifting up the tiniest bit of duvet to give Arthur a thumbs up and watch what was going on.

“Yes he’s here” there was a pause as someone that Merlin couldn’t see said something that he couldn’t make out “he’s helping me do some research” another pause as the other person said something “sorry it’s secret” Merlin head a long suffering sigh and the someone gave Arthur a tray of food “thank you” he said before shutting the door. Merlin crawled out from under the bed

“Who was that?” He asked

“Leon, he says his mum is getting worried” he said putting down the tray, he went to pick up a bit of chicken but Merlin slapped his hand away “ _ow_ , what was that for?!”

“ _Because_ you have nearly been kidnapped _twice_ today or at least once anyway” he said closing his eyes and hovered his hand over the food and willing his magic to tell him if anything was wrong with it “it seems ok” he said stealing a bit “tastes good too” he grinned.

Merlin ended up sleeping under Arthur’s bed that night because “knowing you you’ll go and get yourself kidnapped again”. In the morning he shoved Arthur out of his bed again and into a heap on the floor, he had to drag Arthur out of his blanket cocoon because he was still falling asleep on the floor

“I pity whoever normally has to get you up” he said as Arthur finally went behind the screen to change “they’d have to be all polite to you because you’re so prince-y” a now dressed Arthur scowled at him as he came back from around the changing screen, he was about to retort when someone knocked the door again. Merlin skidded back under the bed as Arthur answered it

“Hello Leon”

“Hello sire, you’re farther has captured the imposter and would like your presence in the throne room and Gauis requires Merlin’s assistance” he walked over to Merlin who had shimmied out from under the bed “and Gaius would like his books back” he whispered in his ear

“I didn’t take them, that was Arthur and Gwen’s fault”

“I’m sure they did” he said exasperated ruffling Merlin’s hair, yep this was DEFINITELY Leon. He hadn’t told Leon that Arthur knew about his magic so waited until he’d left with the prince to collect all the books back and sneak into a secret passage that lead to the physicians chambers.

The rest of the day was full of helping DEFINITELY Gaius research

“I believe I’ve found it” Merlin’s head shot up

“Really?” He said excitedly, Arthur was right he loved learning but even he had to admit that it was starting to get boring, he felt like he’d read the same sentence a million times

“Yes, come here” he said hoching Merlin onto his lap so he could read the page “I believe it could be a Spriggan”

“Spriggans are notoriously malicious and can create a wide range of nuisances from storms, burglary and kidnapping mortal children. They are especially horrendous to those who have offended or harmed them, they may seek revenge on those who have wronged them by taunting and tormenting them and their loved ones.

Spriggans are able to change their form at will but are naturally tall humanoids with over large, childlike heads who have the appearance of being made from wood.

Like most fairie folk Spriggans are weakened by iron and despite there being no known way to kill them permanently, securing them in cold iron cuffs will dampen their magic and powers enough to subdue.” He read Gaius nodded when Merlin looked up at him

“I believe that they were trying to exchange prince Arthur for a channeling as a punishment for the king’s outlawing of magic” he explained calmly.

O=|======>

Merlin followed Gaius to the throne room carrying the book with the Spriggan page bookmarked. In the throne room king Uther sat on an ornate gold and Camelot red chair. Banners with the Pendragon crest stitched onto them hung between each of the enormous windows. The stone walls seemed impossibly tall and he had to bend his back in an awkward position to be able to see the ceiling and it’s carved beams. Arthur stood next to the throne at his farther’s knee looking terrified

“Ah Gaius” boomed the king “I trust you have information on this phenomenon” he half asked half stated

“Yes your majesty” he said bowing his head “I believe it to be a type of fairie called a Spriggan, they are known to take children and exchange them for channelings” the king made a gesture to two guards who left

“How do we identify it?” He asked

“Cold iron manacles should force it to change back to its original form.” Two identical serving women were dragged in by the guards. Two other guards who had also left returned with iron shackles which made Merlin’s magic hum nervously and felt like it was trying to hide like a little kid might do behind their mum’s skirt. Merlin didn’t pay much attention to what was being said, he just watched the cuffs nervously as if they’d put themselves on him if he looked away. The sound of them being locked and a horrible noise like a million twigs being snapped as one of the prisoners grew to be at least twice the size of Uther. The Spriggan slumped on it’s knees was eye to eye with the king, Merlin didn’t know if Spriggans could glare but he got the strong impression that it was glaring at Uther who was now stood pointing his sword at its neck, the creature didn’t look phases by this in the slightest

“You have proved to be a creature of near human intelligence therefore will be sentenced with treason, attempted kidnapping and sorcery” Uther declared “you shall be beheaded at dawn”

 _That will not work you ignorant fool of a man_ Merlin looked around for the source of the voice, no one else looked phased, his eyes fell on the Spriggan who’s green eyes flickered to him for less than a second before looking definitely back at Uther

 _Hello Emrys_ said the deep voice again _it is rude to stare and to eavesdrop_

 _Sorry_ thought Merlin. He didn’t hear the voice again and guessed that the Spriggan must be talking to whoever this Emrys was.

The Spriggan was taken away and the serving lady set free. There was a feast that night to celebrate the foiling of another scheme against the king and Camelot, Arthur shot Merlin an apologetic look whenever the king spoke about the evils of magic, Merlin pretended that it was a feast to make up for the one that Arthur didn’t get the day before, when the two were sent away to bed Merlin gave his friend a hug and wished him a happy belated birthday and quietly thanked him for keeping his secret.

O=|======>

A few days later there was another feast to celebrate Christmas. Arthur had asked Gwen and Merlin to go to his chambers before it. The last few days had been busy for everyone but especially for Arthur who’d had to attend three unsuccessful executions of the Spriggan before Uther had given up and had it taken away presumably a deep dark bit of the castle ‘as an example’ he’d said but none of the trio could figure out for the life of them who it’d be an example to. Gwen and Merlin went up to Arthur’s room together holding their presents for him and each other.

In Arthur’s room the three sat on his bed chatting and swapped presents. Merlin gave Arthur and Gwen a braided leather bracelet each with the plaits that Gwen had taught him, he’d enchanted them to never break or unwind so they could keep them forever. Gwen had made them each a pin with her dad’s help, she’d made Arthur a little Pendragon dragon which he pinned to his new bracelet, Merlin nearly cried when she’d handed over the little butterfly

“I think she just called you a girl Merlin” Arthur joked

“I did not” she said offended “I just noticed he seems to like drawing them and I’d already made you a dragon ” which was true, any parchment that Gaius had given him ended up with doodles with at least one dragon and butterfly on it somewhere. Arthur gave Gwen a pretty yellow headband and Merlin a bundle of fabric?

“I’m not doing your laundry for you, that’s a rubbish present” he joked, Arthur knocked him on the shoulder when he went to unfold it and gave a pointed look at Gwen, before Merlin could ask why he was being weird a servant knocked on the door to escort the prince to the banquet.

A few hours later Merlin flopped onto his bed with Arthur’s present, he considered opening it the next day but was kind of wondering what was so secret about it and knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he knew. He carefully unwrapped the blue cloth and looked at the book inside, he read the note that was attached to it

 **Dear** _**Merlin** _

_**You are a huge nerd and thought you’d like something new to read, you forgot to take this back to Gaius and he has asked for it back yet so I guess it’s fair game** **;D** _

_**Happy Christmas, Arthur** _

Merlin moved the note to show the title of the book: a history of magic. Merlin smiled so wide he felt like his face was about to split in two, he hugged the book before fixing the note to the inside cover with one of Max’s homemade permanent sticking spells and putting it safely under the floor with Max’s.


	5. Chapter 5

Merlin was flicking through Max’s book looking for the next spell he wanted to practice, he was hoping to be able to take Arthur and show him some more magic, when he reached the last page. He hadn’t thought about the last entry much being much more intrigued by the spells but liked Max from the few more diary like entries that he’d read

 _ **Hello future Max**_ it started like every time they’d used their book as a journal

_**Well actually I probably won’t see this again but oh well, for continuity I guess. Sofia had a vision the other night and it wasn’t a good one, she woke up in a panic and it took until dawn to calm her down enough to speak and I still don’t really know what the vision was about she just said something about us being in danger and having to leave as soon as possible. I’ve tried to ask her but if I push she clamps up and has an attack. She told me when we leave you have to stay behind or we’ll get caught? Sofia is collecting supplies for our departure tomorrow, I do worry as Yule is in a week and although it is not yet snowing the days could turn you to ice and the nights are worse even in our tiny room, we’ll be fine, we always are and between our magic we’ll survive whatever the triple goddess throws at us. It will be hard** **t** **o leave my home of so long, but if Sofia is scared then it must be for the best to go, Goodnight and goodbye old friend I will miss you dearly.** _

Merlin closed the book feeling weird, he hoped that Max and Sofia were okay. He put the book away with methodical movements and lay in bed until the morning.

The next evening there was a feast for a visiting lord or something, Merlin didn’t really know or care as he wasn’t invited. Merlin spent the evening with Gwen watching her dad fixing and strengthening the soldiers swords. Merlin wished he could use his magic to form the fire into scenes from the stories he and Gwen were telling each other like he used to do with his mum especially when he told her his version of Atalanta, he used to make his mum laugh with his adaptation of the Greek heroine, Merlin was very proud of himself when Gwen enjoyed it just as much even without the fire acting it out too - he even heard her dad chuckling as well.

The following morning Merlin headed towards Gaius’ chambers to start his rounds when he was stopped by the sheer mass of silver filling the courtyard in polished lines. Up on the balcony stood King Uther dressed in full armour and a red Camelot cape, on his right was a man in black fur with a look like he’d just been made to clean out all the stables on his face - Merlin didn’t like him one bit. On the king’s other side was Arthur looking into the distance with squared shoulders his eyes looked red and watery Merlin had to force his magic not to reach out and hug him

“ **Soldiers of Camelot today we march on Essetir. They have allowed magic into their kingdom, this invalidates the terms of our peace agreement. Cenred’s army is strong and ruthless but we are more so** ” a cheer ran through the crowd “ **we have more land and more resources and with the combined efforts of ours and Nemeth’s army we will easily take Cenred.** ” The king nodded and lead Arthur and the man back inside. Wait Essetir? Essetir hated magic even if it was legal or he would be huddled in with his mummy in their tiny house not trying to fight through a sea of soldiers and knights to get to Gaius’. He’d heard scary warnings about the King of Camelot but they were nothing compared to the ones he’d heard about his own king.

Eventually Merlin made it to Gaius’, the old man gave him a warm smile as he entered

“Good morning Merlin” he said packing the Merlin’s round into a bag

“Hi uncle Gaius.” He said sitting down “king Uther’s going to Essetir” he tried to say casually, Gaius hummed. Merlin had the feeling that Uncle Gaius was waiting for him to say something but he didn’t know what to say or how, he was worried about his mummy and Will and all of Ealdor. He knew that his village was right on the border between Essetir and Camelot, Arthur had shown him on the maps while he was practicing his geography, he couldn’t believe how tiny it was, even compared to some of the other villages near the borders it was small. Now he hoped that everyone would just ignore the tiny cluster of houses where the only real shop was the blacksmiths. Merlin only jumped a little bit when Gaius’ hand appeared on his shoulder

“Are you alright Merlin?” Merlin nodded, picked up his satchel full of little bottles of medicine and the list and ran towards the door

“I’ll see you later uncle Gaius” he shouted back as he ran down the spiral stairs.

It was still chilly outside but not cold anymore and all the plants were becoming green again, spring was hard work in Ealdor but here it was just pretty Merlin felt a bit guilty but he definitely liked it in Camelot better even though it was loud and busy that also meant there were lots of people to talk to and it never got boring. After his rounds Merlin made his way back to Gaius with the empty bag. He only bumped into three people because he was daydreaming this time and he took it to be an achievement. When he arrived back at Gaius’ Arthur was sitting at the table talking to Gaius

“Are you okay, Arthur?” Merlin asked walking so he was in front of his friend who was furiously wiping away tears

“Yes. I’m fine.” He said slamming his cup down and running off Merlin went to follow him but Gaius told him to let the prince be on his own to calm down and took him into the forest to gather plants. Merlin decided that as soon as they got back he was going to go and find Arthur and try to cheer him up so that’s exactly what he did.

When they got back the whole army was waiting outside of the gates in neat lines Gaius bowed his head and Merlin copied and they walked through the gates. Merlin handed Gaius his herbs and ran off to find his friend, he found Arthur on the training field hitting a wooden dummy with a sword

“Hi Arthur” he said cheerfully, Arthur grumbled “let’s go to the kitchens” he suggested “we could feed mrs chippy while we’re there”

“ _Who_ on _earth_ is _mrs chippy_?”

“A stray cat that likes to hang around the kitchens. He likes me, I feed him biscuits” Arthur rolled his eyes

“Of course, how could I be so foolish?” He asked putting away the sword “come on then, we can’t let mrs chippy go hungry now can we?” He said throwing an arm around Merlin’s shoulder, the two walked towards the kitchens. When they got there Merlin turned himself invisible he was proud that Arthur only jumped a little bit

“Can you see me?” Merlin whispered

“No” he slipped the door as quietly as possible and snuck through the kitchens collecting bits of food until the bag that he’d used to gather herbs with was full. When he left Arthur was sitting against the wall stroking mrs chippy’s ears. The cat looked up at Merlin and pranced over to weave around his legs

“Hello mrs chippy” he said pulling a biscuit out of the bag and handing to the cat who galloped off down the corridor. Arthur definitely jumped this time when he talked “sorry did I scare you?”

“No. And stop grinning”

“Hmmm really because you looked like you jumped out of your skin” Merlin smirked “and how did you know I was grinning?” He asked looking at his invisible hands

“Shut up” he argued but sounded more annoyed that Merlin was right “let’s go to the battlements” he walked off, Merlin followed behind. Suddenly Arthur stopped walking making Merlin crash into him

“What?”

“I thought I’d walked too fast for you or something”

Huh? Merlin realised that he was still invisible

“Gadewch imi gael fy ngweld” Merlin felt his magic his magic work and he became visible again

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that”

“Yeah you will” he grinned patting Arthur on the shoulder as they continued walking.

When they got to the battlements Merlin was out of breath

“Why...does Camelot have...so...many _stairs_?” He panted

“Oh come on Merlin there’s not that many- ok yeah there’s a few more than necessary” Arthur said seeing Merlin’s red face. Arthur walked over to the wall and stood on tip toes to rest his crossed arms on the stone, Merlin joined him. The sunset was amazing, the sky was blue with bright pink and purple streaks. From this angle he could see for miles even over the big hill and to the grey mountains. The soldiers started marching

“I didn’t realise how big the army is” Arthur nodded

“Farther says our army is the biggest is all of Albion” as the various troops started moving Arthur explained their roles “first you have the scouts, they go first to make sure there’s not any trouble ahead. Then there’s farther and his knights, then there’s the infantry and archers and then the cavalry who are on the horses see?” He said as the horses started trotting away from the citadel “then there’s all the supplies in those wagons and I’m not sure what that troops called” he pointed to the final group of the party “but they’re there to make sure no one’s attacking from behind” the two watched the troops move away into the distance in silence for a while

“Maybe you do have a brain in there dollophead, that’s a lot of stuff to remember if you didn’t” Merlin said thumping down from his tip toes to get some food, Arthur pretended to look offended

“Well then you definitely don’t because you can never remember anything”

“I’ll have you know I remember very important and interesting stuff” he could remember lots of spells for one and some of the plants Gaius collected and lots and lots of stories just not anything ‘useful’. Arthur sat down next to him and pulled out some food for himself, he looked down at his shoes sadly “what’s wrong?”

“I’m worried about farther, he’s going to be gone for a very long time for a really stupid reason” he looked around “well I think it’s stupid anyway” he shrugged

“It is a bit of a stupid reason, King Cenred doesn’t like magic anymore than King Uther, he just sees how it can be useful or that’s what mummy told me anyway” he took a bite of bread and cheese “Anyway King Cenred might be able to show him how useful magic is and then he’ll have a reason to let it be allowed again” he said nudging Arthur’s shoulder with his own

“Maybe” he fake smiled at the younger boy knowing his farther was far too stubborn for that but wanted to believe that Merlin was right. After a while they took the food back to the edge of the wall to watch the procession disappear into little dots in the distance

“I’m a bit worried about Ealdor, it’s really near Camelot and it’ll disrupt the whole year if the whole army charges through”

“Really?” Merlin nodded

“You can’t just plant the seeds and leave them to it and then come back at harvest, if one of them gets sick they all could and then no one’d have anything to eat”

“Huh. I didn’t know plants could get sick” Merlin nodded again “at least if Ealdor becomes part of Camelot they can come and ask for help”

“And maybe then mummy and Will could come and visit” he said thoughtfully as he bent down to pick up the brown tabby that was pawing at his leg, Arthur let him smell his hand before stroking his head

“Why did you call him mrs chippy anyway?” Merlin shrugged

“It just suited him and he seemed to like it” Arthur laughed and broke up a biscuit to give to mrs chippy

“Only you would call a Tom cat mrs chippy because they seemed to like the name”

O=|======>

The next month was very fun for the three friends. Arthur’s uncle Agravaine was regent king which Arthur told him meant he was sort of the king while king Uther was away but not allowed to make any big changes. Agravaine seemed to think that Arthur got in the way too much and wasn’t suitable for council meeting yet. Arthur had ranted at Merlin and Gwen about how he was being treated like a baby even though he was already nine and a half and that was practically a grown up

“On the upside” Gwen had said from where she was sitting next to Merlin on Arthur’s bed while the prince paced (stomped) around the room “you’ll have more free time to do things you enjoy and you do always complain about how boring those councillors are”

“That’s true” Merlin agreed “hey I bet Agravaine will let you come and play in the woods with us without you getting told off for once”. So that’s what they did, everyday after Gwen and Merlin had done their rounds they waited in the courtyard or under the old tree near the practice fields for Arthur to finish with his lessons with his fancy tutors. Once he was done Arthur would run out to meet them and they’d decide what to do that day.

Most of the time they went into the woods, far enough to feel like they were on their own but never far enough that they’d get lost even though Arthur was sure he’d be able to get them back with his ‘superior tracking and navigation skills’ Gwen had nodded placatingly and Merlin had rolled his eyes. They’d play in the woods until the sun started to set some days, taking food from the kitchens for lunch. Their favourite game was hide and seek which Merlin definitely didn’t use his magic to help him out. One time they walked all morning until they found a lake surrounded by tall trees and mountains in the distance

“This is so pretty” Gwen running to the edge of the water and dragging her fingers lightly over it watching the ripples. The place felt magical both figuratively and literally, Merlin’s magic hummed contently

“It is” he agreed grinning at his surroundings “it’s magical” he said without thinking. Gwen pulled her her hand away

“Do you think it’s dangerous?!” She asked panicked

“No no no it’s it’s the opposite really it’s really really good” Arthur looked between them

“Well Merlin grew up in Essetir so no ones scared of it there” he said quickly to cover for his friend, Merlin nodded feeling guilty. They enjoyed their day by the water and went home with damp clothes from splashing each other deciding to come back another day and be prepared to go swimming properly. They got back to Camelot and the boys dropped Gwen off at her house before heading towards the castle

“Are you going to tell Gwen?” It wasn’t a demanding question that made Merlin feel like there was a wrong answer which Merlin appreciated, he shrugged

“I don’t know” he said pulling a face like he’d eaten a sour sweet “when we’re older maybe” he shrugged again. Arthur nodded solemnly

“Then I’ll cover for you” he said, Merlin grinned

“Thanks”

Other days (usually the rainy ones) the trio bundled into one of three places; Gwen’s dad’s blacksmiths, the Young’s helping Gwen’s mum cook and bake or in Gaius’ doing whatever Gaius was doing that day.

“I’m bored of going to the same places when the weather’s like this” complained Merlin from where he’d managed to climb onto Arthur’s windowsill that looked over the slowly flooding street’s

“Well there’s not much we can do about that _Mer_ lin, I don’t know about you but _I_ can’t change the weather”

“Oooo the mighty prince Arthur admits he can’t do something” Merlin grinned, sliding off the window andover to the fire where Arthur and Gwen were playing cards. He stood over them for a minute before purposely going limp and falling on top of Arthur’s pile of cards, sending them flying

“Hey!”

“I’m booooorrrrrreeedddd” Merlin wined

“You’re annoying is what you are” Arthur huffed picking up his half of the deck “well what do you want to do then?” Merlin shrugged “insightful as always I see” Merlin rolled around on the floor between his friends, pouting

“Merlin sit up sweetie or you’re going to hurt the cards” Merlin mumbled a sorry and sat up. Merlin couldn’t do what he _actually_ wanted to do because what he _actually_ wanted to do was sneak off to his clearing and let his magic go, for the past few days it’d been wizzing around him like a spinner. It was getting restless at the lack of use, in Ealdor he and Will or his mum used to sneak into the woods at least once a week to play with it but sometimes he couldn’t use it here for months sometimes.

“I just want to go somewhere new” he complained Arthur sighed and stood up

“Come on then, just to shut you up” Merlin grinned and stood up as Arthur pulled Gwen to her feet too.

The three spent the rest of the day exploring the castle poking their heads through every door they didn’t know what was behind so far they’d found fifty two storage closets, thirty bedrooms and one mysterious locked door

“What’s behind this?” Merlin asked, Arthur shrugged “should we have a look?” He asked mischievously

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, it’s obviously locked for a reason” Arthur said

“What do you mean it’s locked?” Merlin said, his eyes flashed gold as he pushed the door open “see not locked.” Gwen walked into the room and looked up the spiral stairs, Arthur cuffed him around the head before following her Merlin rubbed his head and followed them, shuttling the door behind him. At the top of stairs there was a door decorated with peeling paintings of delicate flowers, Arthur pushed it open to reveal a quaint circular room with a huge stained glass window showing a golden dragon flying over rolling hills and flower fields. The armchair next to the empty fireplace was covered in a thick layer of dust like the posh desk and all the books on the case that circled a quarter of the room

“This place is amazing” Arthur said awed flicking through a stack of painted canvases

“It’s a bit dusty” Merlin splutters, eyes watering as dust plumed from the floor as he walked further in. Gwen was flicking through a book of drawings from the desk

“I wonder what this place is?” She commented Arthur looked around

“Not a bedroom obviously, maybe a study of some kind?”

“There’s plenty of books for it to be” Merlin said from halfway up a ladder that let the higher shelves of the bookcase be reachable “I mean some of these are as big as the ones Gaius has” Arthur hummed in agreement and went over to the window and rubbed away some of the grime to look at the amazing view that could only just be seen through the rain

“I like this place” he said “it feels right”

“We could always come back, tidy it up a bit”

“Like a secret hideout!” Merlin said excitedly “it doesn’t look like anyone comes up here so it obviously doesn’t belong to anyone”

“I wonder who it did belong to” Merlin shrugged

“Maybe it’ll say in one of these books?” Merlin said lighting up and practically vibrating with excitement at the thought of reading all of them

“I thought you said you were bored” Arthur said shaking his head

“Yeah but ... books”

After they ate the lunch that Gwen and Merlin had snuck down to the kitchens to acquire followed back by mrs chippy they spent the afternoon cleaning the room up and Merlin tried very hard not to get distracted by all the new books. By the time the sun was getting low they’d managed to get rid of most of the dust and cobwebs, it had amused him greatly to see Arthur leap into the armchair out of the way of a spider while Merlin caught and relocated it. When the sun was too low to light the room Merlin lit the candles without magic making the room even cozier

“I think if we bought some cushions and blankets up here we could make a nice little den, then we wouldn’t have to sneak into Arthur’s room all the time” Gwen said as she prodded the fire, the others nodded

“And I’d have somewhere to hide when I want to escape boring lectures, as long as we can get a practice dummy or I’ll have to use Merlin”

“Hey!” He said indignantly looking up from where he was playing with mrs chippy

“How are you going to get a dummy up here without anybody noticing?” Arthur shrugged

“I dunno but Merlin can help unless he wants the job himself”

“No way dollophead”

O=|=====>

A few months later Arthur and Merlin are barricaded in the den surrounded by the ever growing hord of soft furnishings they’d been slowly collecting since finding the room. Merlin had made himself a nest and was reading one of the smaller books and stroking mrs chippy, he’d been delighted to find that at least some of the books were on magic but he hadn’t had much time to look through them because Gwen had always been with them before and was now invested in a story about pirates.

“When’s you’re birthday?” Arthur asked suddenly

“Huh?” Merlin asked looking up

“When is your birthday?” Merlin shrugged “what do you mean-” he imitates the shrug

“We don’t really keep track in places like Ealdor, I know that I’m eight this year and mum says I was born in mid summer and it’s a good job I was impatient for once and wanted to be born early. Why are you asking anyway?” Arthur shrugged

“What about today then? It’s the longest day and the same date as my birthday but the summer” Merlin thought for a moment

“Yeah ok” he said excitedly

“So what do you want to do for your birthday then birthday boy?” Merlin hummed and looked around

“I want to go to the library!”

“ _WHY?!_ This room is _full_ of books!” Merlin just pouted and pulled puppy dog eyes as a reply “Fiiinnnneee” he wined “just stop making that ... face” he said waving his hand in front of his face as he thought of the word. Merlin grinned.

O=|======>

They didn’t mean to let the goblin out. They didn’t mean to find the secret room either but it happened.

“Hey Merlin, look at this” Arthur had said picking up the case with huge lead straps and buckles

“What’s in in it do’you think’s I’m in?” Just then the box shook and the something inside shouted

“Whatever it is it doesn’t like being in there”

“What should we-” before he could finish his question Arthur flipped the latch on the box and the lid sprung open. For a second nothing happened. The two boys looked at each other, Merlin raised an eyebrow in an (Arthur decided) frighteningly good impression of Gauis and they both peered into box who’s bottom seemed to stretch beyond the floor. Arthur reeled back as a green blur smashed into his chin

“Hey!” He shouted from where he sat sprawled on the floor. Merlin stood stunned as a little green figure with big ears and tattoos stretched

“Fifty years I’ve been crammed in that box” it said in a nasally voice kicking the box

“You you can speak?”

“Ooooooo no’ as stupid as you look are you”

“Now that’s not very nice.” He said in his most adult-y voice putting his hands on his hips like him mum did when he was in trouble. The thing didn’t listen and just paraded around the room kicking vases off shelves. Arthur picked up a sword (seriously what on Earth was this room?!) and furiously brandished it at the creature

“As prince of Camelot I demand that you tell me what you are” he said in his most princely voice the thing just snickered

“Well if it’s for the future king” it whimpered Arthur nodded solemnly and then the sword burst into a bouquet of flowers

“Now that’s enough messing around.” Merlin snapped “In.” He said pointing at the box

“I spent fifty years in that box” it sneered “time to have some fun!” The boys looked at each other sceptically _we’re going to be in **so** much trouble they_ thought as the thing made for the door

“Get it!” Shouted Arthur as he tried to dive on it. The thing cackled and turned into a little ball and wizzed out of the way, unfortunately this was at the same time Merlin pounced where it had been in an attempt to catch it in a blanket ( _seriously_ what is **with** this room?) and only succeeded in landing on Arthur and getting them both tangled in the blanket while the orb laughed meanly at them as it escaped

“Can you get any more clumsy?!” Arthur snapped hitting his head on the floor

“ME?! You jumped first! If you’re so clever you catch it!” He pouted folding his arms with a scowl, Arthur’s face wrinkled guilty

“Sorry” he said sadly

“‘S okay” suddenly Arthur’s head shot up, eyes wide

“Farther gets back today.” He said panicked

“Oh no!” They shouted scrambling after the thing.

O=|======>

Arthur is called away to prepare and then welcome the king back so Merlin does the only thing he can think of, go to Gaius. He sheepishly knocks the door and enters

“Hello uncle Gaius” Gaius puts the book he’s reading down and takes off his glasses to look at Merlin

“What have you done?” He asks sternly raising an eyebrow. Merlin wasn’t sure how to explain without telling his uncle that he’d broken the first rule of having magic - don’t tell anyone. He shuffled his feet, suddenly very interested in his boots

“I let some sort of creature loose in the castle.” He mumbled still not looking at his uncle

“You’ll have to speak up my boy”

“I accidentally let something loose in the castle. Err it’s like a little green man with black marks and needles for teeth” he explained “sorry” he felt tears welling up, it was his fault “sorry” he said again trying to wipe away the tears with his sleeve, his magic bubbled inside him like boiling water a dark grey storm cloud started forming above his head and the herbs that hang on Gaius’ wall shrivelled as he hyperventilated. The physician scooped him into a hug and rubbed circles on his back while making shushing noises until the black thunderous cloud dissipated and Merlin stopped crying. He rubbed his red face with his sleeve “sorry for acting like a baby” he said

“That’s alright Merlin, now tell me what happened and we’ll see how we can work it out” Merlin nodded and wiped his nose on his sleeve. He sat with Gaius and told him what had happened (except the little white lie that he was on his own) and then helped him look through the books

“Yes that’s it” he said pointing at the picture “a goblin, huh”

“Goblins are very mischievous creatures”

“Well that doesn’t sound so bad” he said hopefully

“They can also be very dangerous when they want to be”

“Oh” just then Arthur stuck his head around the door and Merlin tried very hard not to laugh when he saw Arthur’s bright pink hair and eyebrows - he did not succeed

“Gaius” he said trying to ignore his friends snorts of laughter “my farther requests to see you in the throne room urgently”

“Did he say what the matter is?” Gaius asked already gathering up his medical supplies

“He err” now Arthur was also trying to hide laughter and only just managing not to “him and uncle Agravaine err keep farting” he said pursing his lips to stop from grinning “and some of the court laddies have have lost all their hair” his face was so pink it nearly blended in with his hair, he coughed to not so subtly hide a grin. Gaius picked up the book and left. As soon as the door shut they both burst out laughing

“I must say dollophead pink hair suits you”

“Really?” He said sceptically picking up a spoon and looking at his reflection “I think the eyebrows are a bit too much but I like it” he grinned “I don’t think farther will think it’s ‘princely’ though” he smiled “we should probably figure out how to catch this thing then”

“It’s called a goblin” he said “and it says in the book that they like to collect gold and can only be captured in a lead box”

“I’ve got an idea! Follow me!” Arthur said sprinting from the room.

Arthur’s genius plan it turned out was to lead the goblin back to the lead box in the library. As Merlin lay the coins in a line leading to the weird room, Arthur managed to tip the heavy box on its end, held up by a chair leg that he’d tied some string to and put a little pile of coins under it

“It’s coming” said Merlin running into the room and putting down the last coin as the pair hid behind one of the shelves. The goblin came in with a bundle of coins, picked up the new one and licked it

“That is the grossest thing I’ve ever seen” Arthur whispered. When the goblin got underneath the box Arthur yanked the string which in turn caused the box to drop and snap shut over the goblin “Quick do up the straps”

“Let me out I promise I won’t do it again” said the muffled voice from inside the case

“Nice try we’re not that stupid” Merlin said as he did up the final strap. Arthur nodded satisfied “you’re blond again”

“Oh” Arthur sounded disappointed

“I wonder if I can make it look like it didn’t wear off?”

“You think you can do that?” He asked hopefully

“Maybe” he pondered for a minute before standing on balls of his feet to ruffle Arthur’s hair as his eyes glowed and gold sparkles wafted around Arthur’s head “there we go” he said as Arthur patted his pink hair back to its normal shape

“Thanks” he smiled, the box rattled “let’s get out of here” Merlin nodded

“Let’s go and show Gwen your new hair!” He said as they left the weird room and Merlin sealed the entrance with his magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I picture the way Merlin tells the story of Atalanta as the overly sarcastic productions version just without the swearing and he makes the animation from fire


End file.
